Life Continues to Confuse Me
by Krrimarte
Summary: Based well after STWAOES. Max has a secret hobby that has brought a lot of attention to herself and the others. Who is shadow and why is he challenging her to 30 rounds? FANG and MAX. Please read and review.
1. Ella, you demented little weremonkey!

Things had calmed down after the demise of Itex. It was over, at least I hoped it was. I could barely comprehend a life where the flock and I wasn't constantly darting around the world in a permanent state of fight and flight. We were now free to live a normal life, or at least as normal as a bunch of bird kids could live.

It took months for my lavish doses of paranoia to dwindle. As much as I didn't want to, the flock had split up. Me, Fang and Iggy (The 93's as we were called) stayed with my mom in Arizona The rest of the kids left with Jeb to his home in Canada.

However, before what I call "the Great Divide" Nudge tapped into the financial system of the fallen Itex Corporation and helped us all to a nice out of court settlement. We each had an investment account with a million dollars in it. She explained that this was money that was going to grow until our eighteenth birthday when we could cash it in at any time.

The 93's attended Peter's High in Arizona It was okay but I never felt that I truly fit in anywhere. Iggy made tons of friends. Maybe because he could see himself as anything but perfect and it showed.

One thing that I have to mention is that Fang and I became a lot closer. Like, closer-then-brother-and-sister-unless-you're-in-West-Virginia close. It was quite a relationship, Were were never "official." We never kissed or held hands, but we would do things like cuddle and share a bed.

No, not like that! I mean, after years of sharing a dog crate and then huddling under a blanket together, it was comforting to have each other there. We'd tried to sleep in our own rooms, but it always would end with one of us knocking on the others door. The other would sigh in relief and say "come in." and pull the blankets up for other.

This arrangement also made the night terrors that plagued us easier to deal with. Everyone knew that I had them, but the nights were Fang would toss and turn, moaning and sweating were our secret.

This was one of those nights.

Fang had woken me when he started thrashing on the right side of the bed. I pulled the comforter and sheet up and tapped the side of his face gently.

"Fang... Fang... It's okay... I'm here... It'll be alright...", I said softly. The Furrow in his brow deepened.

"Max?" He asked slurredly, still trapped in unconsciousness.

"Yes, Fang, I'm here. I'm not going anywhere. I'm not leaving. I'm right beside you." I assured him.

He stopped thrashing and eased back to sleep. Most of his terrors stemmed from the time before I met him. A time when he had to face the 'whitecoats' alone, with nobody to hug or comfort him. He just need to know that he wasn't alone most of the time.

I looked at the clock... It was May 11th now. I was 18 years old. I laughed slightly and turned over to face Fang and fell asleep.

It was an okay day, I suppose. There wasn't any presents or cards. Not that I truly care about that sort of thing. Although... sometimes... I think that it would be nice. No, instead I had my greatest weakness: Mom's chocolate chip cookies. Which is where I am now...

So I'm holding the basket in my arms snarling at the other 93's who are trying to get there hands on my cookies. Fang tentively reaches forward and lets out a low 'Ow!' when I nip his finger. Iggy starts to laugh.

"Maximum, I said share those cookies!" I hear mom say laughingly.

"No! Mine!" I say like an over grown three year old.

Ella rolls her eyes and pokes me in the side, on reflex I drop my side a bit sending a few precious cookies over the side of the basket. Ella practically plucks them out of the air and laughs.

"I'll have to remember that." Fang says and reaches for one of the cookies in her hand.

"No! Mine!...Uh... I mean... Get your own cookies." She says and giggles.

"Ella, you demented little were-monkey!" I exclaim

In response she merely sticks out her tongue. It is here that I notice that the guys are shoveling cookies out of the basket. "Hey!" I yell. They laugh. I look over at Ella "Traitor."

Finally, I give in and the four of us sit on the floor indulging in what I call "GDC's" (Global Domination Cookies.)

Dr. Mar- I mean, Mom, comes in and looks at us. "I never would of thought that I would one day have for teenage kids, all of them the same age, arguing on the living room floor over cookies."

"Yeah, but three of us are perfect angels..." I say and inhale another cookie.

"Oh yeah, Iggy's no angel!... He's more like a bat." Ella says.

"Oh, sure, pick on the blind guy, why don't you!" Iggy says jokingly.

This is how I wish to remember my stay here. The four of us joking around, the smell of fresh baked GDC's and mom smiling softly over us.

Then I realize that soon I'll be leaving. I'll be alone. And a shade of sadness comes over me. I stand up.

"Guys, I have an announcement." I say firmly. For a moment all eyes are on me.

"I'm leaving." I say.

The guys look at each other Iggy stands up. "So am I."

I look puzzled. "I'm going to the Virginia School for the Blind and Deaf. I didn't want to tell you on your birthday."

Tears prickled the back of my eyes. "But... You can't just go. We can't..."

"Split up?" Fang asked. There was something wrong. His voice was that stoic unpersonable tone he used when he was upset.

"Fang?" I ask

"Isn't that what you were planning to do? Weren't you planning on just leaving m-us behind?" He asked. "Were you really planning on even telling us or would I wake up to the guys saying that you just packed up and left?" He accused.

"No. It's not like that." I said hurriedly.

"No, Max. It is like that. You guys can go. Just leave. I'll stay here with Ella and Dr. Mom."

At this point I knew there was no arguing with him. I got up and went out the back yard. I needed to fly.

My wings spread out and I caught the gust. I held my face up to catch the last warm rays of the sun. Then I went sonic and left everything behind if only for a little while.


	2. Okay Weirdo

Chapter 2

After a while I came back. I touched ground and stepped into the house. Unfortunately, I wasn't alone. Fang was standing there in the dark room. I knew he was waiting for me. I turned to him and sighed.

"Fa-"but I was cut off. I was speechless. I didn't know what to think. Fang was kissing me. I felt panic flash through me and I tried to push him away. What I didn't expect was for him to gently bring his hand to my cheek and hold me there. Even more to my surprise, I realized I had stopped struggling.

The kiss was strong but tender not to mention incredible. I brought my hands to his chest and started to kiss him back.

I couldn't believe this. It was like I was out of my body screaming at myself. What was I doing? This was Fang for crying out loud, but... I couldn't imagine anyone else I'd want it to be. Further shocking myself I managed to lace my hands behind behind his neck and deepened the kiss.

Some time later, seconds, minutes, hours... eternity, I don't know, but he suddenly stopped. He looked at me in a way he never had before.

"Wh-what is it?" I asked, breathless.

"Don't go." He said softly. If it wasn't Fang, I'd think that he was pleading with me. I stared into his dark eyes trying to string sentences together.

"But... I-" His expression changed.

"Please?" He said huskily, barely above a whisper.

I looked at him, speechless. I closed my eyes and nodded solemnly.

He brought his hand down. "Thank you, Max." He said and without another word, he walked away.

I stood there in the dark listening to the soft shuffling of his steps until he closed his bedroom door.

He just walked away. After what he- we just did, he just walked away. Like it never happened. I was so confused I just stood there trying to get my breathing under control. After a few minutes I walked to my room, closed the door, turned off the lights and sat on the edge of my bed letting tears of confusion and frustration slide down my cheeks.

Angrily I shoved my hands to my face and wiped them away. I am Maximum Ride, I do not cry. Crying is for normal girls. Long ago I had accepted that I am not, nor will I ever be, a normal girl.

Silently I leaned over and lay down on my bed. I was still caught in thinking about everything that had happened when it came. The soft two tapping of Fang at my door.

Taking a deep breath to steady my nerves I said "Come in."

He stepped into the room, dressed in his soft flannel pajama pants and a gray t-shirt. I looked up at him. He closed the door behind him and walked over to his side of the bed. I held the blankets up for him and watched as he got settled, then I let them fall over him.

He looked over at me. "Good night, Max"

"Night, Fang." I replied and started to ease myself into unconsciousness.

"You scared me today." His voice whispered into the darkness.

I sat up and turned on the light. "What do you mean I scared you?"I snapped.

He looked up at me for a moment and lowered his eyes. He wasn't going to reply. Go figure. I turned off the light in a huff and lay on my side.

"Max, you're in your street clothes. Go change." He said and turned over.

I stopped for a second mentally debating what to do. I sighed and threw the covers off of me and sat up. I slipped my hand underneath my pillow and yanked out my pajamas.

With a grunt I took off my shirt and pulled the large pajama top over my head then ripped my jeans off.

"Happy?" I asked smartly. I got no reply. Rolling my eyes I lay back down, yanked the blanket over me and proceeded to pass out.

I woke early in the morning and yawned. When I went to stretch something unusual happened. My hand hit Fang. One thing about Fang, he's up at the butt-crack of dawn and he's never there when I woke up. I looked over, surprised. Not only was he there, but he was awake. Awake and... staring at me.

"WHAT!" I yelled.

He smirked and said, "Good morning to you, too."

"Sorry, it's just... You're still staring at me. Do I have a booger on my face or something?" I say.

"No." He said. Fang still had the infuriating smirk on his face.

Okay, this was getting weird so I got up and went to my dresser. I pulled out a hoodie and a pair of jeans. When I turned around Fang was there, right in front of me. For a moment I thought he was going to kiss me again but he only did something incredibly odd. He sniffed me.

"Okay... Weirdo. I'm going to take a shower now... Do I need to lock the door?"I asked warily. He only smirked.

Fang and his smirk were really starting to creep me out. I stepped into the bathroom and started the hot water. Closing the door, I undressed and slipped into the shower with a sigh. Hot water is very, very good.


	3. I'm sure he's just off doing Fang things

By the time I stepped out of the bathroom I was clean, dressed and minty fresh. And to my relief, Fang wasn't in my room.

I tossed the towel into the hamper and grabbed my CD player and gym bag. As was my custom I ran down the stairs and out the door. I was late for my workout.

The gym was a wore out seedy place that you'd think came straight out of 'Rocky' or something. Fitting I guess since I was there to box anyway. I taped up my hands and had the assistant lace my gloves up. Stepping into the ring I felt the relief I'd come to love of this sport.

When I first started coming to the gym, the guys tried to hassle me. I finally went to the manager and asked him which one of the fighters they sponsored. The manager laughed and pointed to a Mike Tyson wanna-be. I spoke to him. Our conversation was over quickly. He said something to piss me off, I threatened him so he shoved me. You should have seen the look on the manager's face when I knocked the guy our in one hit. I swear the guys heart nearly stopped. After that... I had a lot more respect.

I guess the Manager guessed that I wasn't in the best of moods, because he asked me not to kill my sparing partner. I laughed and promised I'd go easy on the guy.

Then I entered what I call "The Ring" mentality. It's like nothing else exists. Not even the guy I'm throwing pot shots at. All I know is my breathing, my heart rate even the feeling of my muscles tensing. In these moments I feel completely connected to my body. Then I let all of my tension, and frustration out on the poor guy.

Left... Left... Block... Right... Jab...

It's a pattern. I'm playing with the guy now. Finally I call it quits when my sparing partner hits the mats.

"I'm out guys. Thanks." I say over my shoulder as I'm undoing my gloves with my teeth. Then I toss my gloves into my bag and head out. I have to hurry home before the guys notice that I've been gone. Nobody knows about the boxing. It's something that is just me.

I hustled down the front steps only to run into somebody. I got up and said a quick "excuse me" and continued on my way.

I got home and walked into the kitchen. Iggy had the table set already.

"What did you make for lunch?" I asked.

"Pot roast." He said as he took a seat next to me.

I reached over and grabbed an apple to snack on. That's one of the benefits of being a mutant freak. I never had to worry about spoiling my appetite.

"Hey, Max?"

"Yeah Ig?" I said looking up at him.

"Do you know where Fang is? I've been looking for him for a couple hours now." Iggy said.

"It might help if you could see. I'm sure he's just of doing Fang things." I said with a shrug.

Iggy shook his head. "Somethings been bothering him for a while now. I'm just worried."

The door opened and I turned to see Fang come into the kitchen. "Speak of the devil. Me and Iggy were just talking about you." I said and went back to munching.

Fang shrugged indifferently and sat down. He promptly stuck ear phones in his ears.

Iggy got up and came back with two plates of pot roast. I picked up my fork and dived in. I looked up to notice that Fang was just looking at his food.

"What's up?" I asked him.

"Not hungry. I grabbed something on the way here." He said. He continued to stare at his food for a while then just got up and walked away.

"That bad?" Iggy asked.

I rolled my eyes and dragged Fang's plate over. I know good food when I see it. Iggy hear the movement and grinned. "Seconds?"

"Oh yeah!" I said and started tearing into the meal.


	4. Ah mercury switches they're tempermental

After about a half of a pot roast I was feeling sluggish. Full bellies and no erasers to attack means that I usually take a nap after meals to burn of the extra calories.

I didn't feel like sleeping so I stepped into the living room and turned on the TV. Iggy was working on some sort of class project and Fang was reading a book in the corner.

I was clicking through the channels when I caught the news. Even now I'm still paranoid so I watch the news like a hawk hoping to stay on top of anything out of the ordinary.

"A large explosion occurred today in the Apoolaga National Forest in Canada. I burned approximately 10 acres of forest. Sources say that the explosion is being investigated but officials are making no comments."

I looked up. Then I looked at Fang and Iggy.

"GAZZY!!!" we shouted and made a mad dash for the phone. I called Jeb and very calmly asked to speak to Gazzy.

"'sup Max?" He asked. He was trying to play innocent.

"I was just watching the news. What were you thinking? What have I told you about those bombs?" I say trying not to scream at the kid.

"I know," he said softly almost guiltily. "But did you see the explosion? It was awesome!!!" The enthusiasm of a 12 year old arsonist is never diminished by rational thought, now is it?

Iggy shook his head and gestured for me to hand him the receiver. "Hey, Gazzy. It's Iggy." He paused as he got a reply that I couldn't hear. "So... What do you think went wrong, or were you planning to set it off? ... Ah, mercury switches. Those things are temperamental..."

I rolled my eyes and threw my hands in the air. Those two live on a planet all on their own. One where there are explosions every 2.5 seconds and the air isn't safe to breath, but a planet all their own.

Blowing hair out of my face I went through the sliding screen door. It was about 8 o'clock and I was debating taking an early flight then Fang stuck his head out. "Angel wants to speak to you."

I smiled, thanked him and went inside were the receiver was on it's side. "Hey Ange, what's up?"

"You mean other then Gazzy blowing holes in the ozone layer? Well... What's up with Fang?" She asked.

"What do you mean?" I asked her.

"When I was on the phone with him, he kept thinking 'secrets she hides, secrets...' Max? What is going on?" She asked.

"Ange, I assure you, I have no earthly clue..." Then I thought out the way he reacted when I said I was leaving. "Well, there was one thing. I said that I was leaving. I was planing on checking out property and he freaked out." I omitted the kiss and the strange behavior. I didn't see any point.

"Hmmm... Max, would you do me a favor and call me when things start to get back to normal. I'm worried." Angel said softly.

"It's a promise babe." I replied. She giggled and wanted to speak to Ella. I handed the phone to my sister and went up stairs to my room. Never mind a flight... I needed a nap.

Groggily I pulled my shoes off and tossed them in the closet. With a sigh I lay back and fell asleep before my head hit the pillow.

When I woke up it was only 2am. I can't believe I slept that long. Then I turned over and came face to face with a sleeping Fang. It was then that I noticed that I was tucked in. Fang can be a very kind individual, but you generally have to be unconscious for it to show. I rolled over and went back to sleep.


	5. Freak get out

Chapter 5

The weekend ended and I was awakened by my annoying alarm clock. It's name is Fang.

"Maximum Ride, get out of bed. Come on. We've got school." I sighed and sat up hitting the delay button on the alarm clock. This was Gazzy's invention. I never know who's voice is going to yell at me, or what it's going to say.

Yesterday I was awakened to Nudge reading me the dictionary. Gazzy needs a different hobby.

I got up and stumbled into the bathroom groggily. I turned on the hot water as I stripped off my pajamas and eased into the shower. I yawned like crazy for a few moments and started to wash up. About 5 minutes later I was out of the shower and getting dressed.

I heard two taps on my door. "Come in" I said as I was tying my shoe. Fang looked me over and pointed to a bruise on my right forearm. "Where did that come from?" He asked.

I looked at my arm and inwardly sighed. That would be where I was shoved into the ring corner during my last match, but I wasn't telling Fang that. "I don't know. I realized it in the shower and I think I must have knocked it into something." I said and shrugged. I reached over and grabbed my book-bag and started to head out of my room.

"Liar..." Fang said and stormed past me.

I stopped. What was up with that boy? Did he swallow the un-happyness fairy or something? I rolled my eyes and continued my way down the stairs. Iggy was waiting my the end of the stairs a platter of sandwiches waiting. I snagged two off of the tray and fallowed Fang out the door. "Thanks, Ig!" I replied and continued heading to the car.

Usually Iggy and I carpool with Fang to school be he stopped me at his car.

"I've got some stuff to do, can you take Iggy to school?" He asked, his eyes never leaving the reflection of me in his car window.

"Yeah, sure. What's up?" I asked. He just got in and drove away. I watched as he backed out of the drive and took off.

"So... What did you do to piss him off?" Iggy asked beside me making me jump. "No clue."

I got in the side of my car and unlocked the door for Iggy. Iggy got in and buckled up. I turned the fired the car up and threw it into reverse. I stopped and handed my iPod to Iggy who knew the routine. Soon "Crazy Biotch" by Buck Cherry was pounding from the back. I rolled my eyes and shifted into drive.

"I'm not a bad driver, you know." I said irritated.

Iggy only smirked and gripped the "Oh god" bar above his head.

"Fine, you asked for it." I said and gunned the gas. It was a ploy he'd invented to get me to drive faster.

I bottomed out when I took the hill next to the school doing 95 and came to a screeching halt as a bus pulled out in front of me. Iggy shot forward and burst into laughter. "That was awesome!"

I grinned and shook my head. "Iggy, you need a hobby."

I turned into the student lot and put the car in park. Turning off the car I grabbed my keys and book-bag and hopped out. As I stepped away, Iggy at my side, I hit the lock button on the remote. We were in for another fun filled day of education. What joys...

I stared at the clock wishing that one of my abilities was to force time forward exactly 3 minutes and 12 seconds.

"Max, can I speak to you for a minute?" Mr. Johnson asked from the front of the class. I nodded and went to the front.

"Whats up?" I asked.

He looked at me solemnly and pointed to my arm. "I've noticed that you've had a lot of bruises lately. Is everything alright at home? I would hope that you could tell me if something were wrong.

I smiled at him. What a nice, nosy guy. "Mr. J, I'm just a klutz. I swear. I have two of the worlds most over protective brothers and an awesome mom. I assure you, everything is fine at home. Thanks for the concern though."

"Okay, I'll trust that you're telling the truth but if there's anything you want to talk about, let me know..." He trailed off.

I stopped and bit my lip. Mr. J was almost as cool as my mom. I really felt I could trust him.

"Mr. J?..." I asked

He looked up at me and nodded. "Yes, Max?"

I sighed and sat on the edge of the desk. "I'm not that much of a klutz, but nobody's beating me or anything. I took up boxing."

His eyes widened. "Boxing?" He asked.

"I have some... Aggression issues." I said smiling wide.

"Okay, now I understand. You don't want your brothers to know." He said with a knowing look.

"That would be a perk." I said nodding. "I just know that they'd freak out. I really enjoy boxing and I don't want them to make me give it up."

He sighed and smiled. "And here I thought I was going to get to kick some ex-boyfriend's butt." He said with a laugh. "Okay Max, thanks for telling me."

The bell rang and I shot up, grabbed my bag and headed out to the quad for lunch. Fang was sitting under the tree as usual, Fang beside him listening to his iPod. I shrugged and sat beside Iggy. Iggy was doing something in a blank page notebook. I peeked over his shoulder and nearly gasped.

"Hey Iggy! What are you drawing?" I asked.

He blinked a few times. "Just doodles. I kind of zoned out for a minute."

"You need to zone out more often then, can I have it? It looks awesome." I said sounding to the world to be enthusiastic about the doodles that my blind brother had just drawn. He shrugged, tore out the page and handed it to me.

I sat down beside him and slipped it in my binder along with the other pictures he'd drawn. All of them had been pictures of me. Which wasn't that unusual, he drew pictures of all of us. But the newest one was different. I dated it and shoved it to the back. It was me dressed in my boxing gear fighting somebody in the ring. The opponents skin was sort of shaded in and he wore a tee shirt and shorts, his back to me.

I closed my binder and turned to the guys. "So what do you want to do for lunch?" I asked them.

"I was thinking-" Iggy started but was interrupted.

"I don't care." Fang said stoically.

Iggy looked over at Fang. "... Uh... Boxers?" He said.

I only heard 'Boxers'. My heart started to beat. Of course I knew it was just the name of the sports grill we'd go to eat sometimes.

"Sure Iggy, sounds great. Fang, are you coming." He nodded and we walked into the parking lot. I saw my car and stopped.

"Max, what happened?" Fang demanded.

"I have no fucking clue! I can't believe this. Why would somebody do this?" I asked, tears prickling my eyes.

There in front of me was the car that I'd worked so hard for to earn. The car that I thought would take me to college one day. My car that felt like a place for me. The only car in the lot with no windows, slashed tires and the words "Freak get out." spray painted on the hood in bright green paint.

Fang put a hand on my shoulder and pulled out his phone. "Hello, can I please speak to Principal Idophrees? Thank you... Hello, Mr. Idophrees this is Nick Martinez, I'm standing in front of my sister's car in the parking lot. I think you need to come out here and check this out." He said and hung up.

A few minutes later Idophrees was there with the police as they were loading my car onto the flat bed.

"In light of the situation, you three may have the rest of the day off. I'm so sorry for your car Max. I promise you we will find out who did this." Idophrees said firmly.

I nodded numbly and crawled into the backseat of Fangs car, leaned my head against the window and cried.


	6. Eh, but what do I know, right?

By the time Fang got us home I only wanted to go to bed and pretend that this hadn't happened. However, when does the world ever care about what I want. Instead I got to deal with my arrogant Insurence Adjuster who basically told me my car was totaled and that I'd recieve a check in the mail.

When he left, Iggy making rude gestures in his general direction as he passed him, I announced that I needed to get out of there.

"Take my car."

I looked around confused for a while unable to conect the words from the person standing infront of me. Fang. Fang was holding out his keys and I marveled at them for a millisecond. Fang never leant his car out. Ever. So this was as close as finding the holy grail for me. 

"Since you're being so generous, perhaps I can borrow it tomorrow?" Iggy asked sarcastically. Fang shook his head, not bothering to was his energy glaring at a guy who couldn't see it. Sometimes his cool and pulled together persona makes my brain hurt. 

Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, I snagged the keys out of his hand. "Thanks, Fang!" I yell over my shoulder as I stampede up the stairs. Once in my room I grab my gymbag and run back down the stairs. Before long I was siting in Fang's Jeep, feeling freedom for the first time all day.

I drove the six blocks to the gym and parked in the meter spot out front. After feeding the meter whatever change I had in my pocket I headed inside. 

As soon as I stepped inside I knew something was wrong. Everybody was staring at me. For once I had no idea why.

I was taping up my hands, pretending that nothing was going on when the Manager, Joe, came up to me and asked me to step into his office. I nodded, stood up and followed him to his cramped cubicle-esq office. As I looked around it I wondered if perhaps this used to be the Janitors Closet, because there is a dump station and soap despencers right next to the fileing cabnets. Eh, but what do I know, right? 

"Max, we have a serious problem." Joe starts. Right away I know that he's after something. At first I think it's probably dues or something.

"And what would that be, Joe?" I ask calmly, entirely prepared to argue that I'd paid my entire years membership already.

"I'm going to have to close the gym." He said and stared at me. I looked him in the eyes hoping to see some sign that he was kidding. There was none. Immediantly I felt my stomach tighten and it became kind of hard to breath. 

"Why?" I asked quietly.

"Bills, lack of competition... Taxes." He said with a wince then stared at the floor for a while.

"I see..." I said and bit my lip.

He took a seat behind his desk and motioned for me to sit in the folding chair against the wall. I declined. I don't like cramped places and I sure as heck don't like sitting in them eithor. Joe sighed.

"Look Max, I don't know you outside of the gym. I know that you don't owe me anything, but it's obvious how much you need this place. That is the reason... The ONLY reason why I'm even concidering asking you to do this for me." He said awkwardly.

"What is it?" I ask. Mentally I'm preparing to slug him if the words "Jello" or "Enterainment" come out of his mouth.

He looked me in the eyes and took a deep breath. "I've been made a very generous offter. Win or lose the payoff would keep this place open. But there's a few things that I don't like about it." I got up and walked to the mini-fridge on top of the filing cabnets and pulled out a bottle of water. He spent a few seconds taking deep swallows and looking at anything that wasn't me.

He was stalling. This wasn't good. In my experience this meant usually one of two things. Eithor he's trying to distract or delay me, or he's hiding something. I wondered about this for a second. What about this offer was so horrible.

"They want you to go 30 rounds with their champion." He said flatly.

I looked at him as if to say 'Uh, okay, 30 rounds, big deal!', but I noticed he still wasn't looking at me. "Alright, what is it? This better not involve jello." I remark sternly.

"The offer's been made by the head of an underground organization. The guy you'd be going toe-to-toe with is incredible." He said worriedly.

"Just how incredible?" I ask. I've handled guns, tassers, blood thirty dog-men, fly boys, bombs, and two demented teenage pyromaniacs. I think I might just be able to handle this.

He stopped and pushed a tape into the VCR beside him. He hit play and said, " This was delivered along with the proposal... Watch."

I looked at the screen just as a figure in black stepped into the ring. His face was obstructed by shadows. I watched as the fight went on, watched as this guy pulverised opponent after opponent.

By the time the video scrambled and Joe stopped the tape, my hands were shaking. This was not the shaking of somebody who feared bodily pain or even the shaking of a person psyched about a new challenge.

I'd watched that video very closely. I'd studied the chanpions every dangerous move. Yet only one thing about him troubled me. No, strike that, TERRIFIED me.

The fighter had wings... 


	7. a rock looks like a nice place to retire

I stared at the screen watching as the challenger stood with his back to the camera. He raised his fists in victory as the last oppenent fell. His wings spread out. They must be large because the filled the entire screen without being able to see the tips.

I trid to identify the figure by their wings but the video quality was crap.

"Who is this guy?" I asked, barely above a whisper. I hadn't realized that I'd even said it out loud until Joe startled me with his unexpected responce.

"Everybody calls him 'Shadow'. Other than that, I don't even think his boss knows." Joe said as he rewound the tape. "Do you think those wings are real? I mean a couple of years ago there were those kids..."

"Yeah, I think they're real, but the video could be doctored." I said. Little did he know that I was thinking the exact same thing. 

'shadow...shadow...shadow' my mind kept repeating over and over again, trying and failing to place a face to the name. Could this be another ploy from the desemated remains of ITEX to lure me there? Could it be and ambush? Maybe it wasn't anything quite so sinister. Maybe another escaped experiment, like the ones we rescued during Operation Angel Retrieval. Maybe. But since when has anything not been sinister.

It seemed far to coincidental that my car got trashed the same day this shows up. Being the intelligent person I can add 1 and 2 and get chair. These were related. I was sure of it.

"When do they want this fight?" I asked.

"30 days. Exactly." He said turning to me expectantly.

I looked at him and debated my choices. I could walk away and never step foot in the gym again. That probably wasn't going to happen. Or I could risk getting captured, pummeled and possibly stuffed and save the gym. The fact that I'd find out who Mr. RedBull is would deffinately be a perk.

"I'll do it. I need to train, hard. Make sure I have a crew to assist me. Also, make sure they can keep their mouths shut. Secrecy is absolutely imperitive. 

"Absolutely." Joe said and nodded.

"Good, then we start tomorrow." I said and started to grab my bag. 

"Max... Thank you." He said softly.

I stopped and looked at him for a moment. Wondering how anybody had found out about me. How anybody who even knew me knew where I was. I stepped out of the office deep in thought.

Out on the floors I could feel their eyes drilling into me. I even felt the hairs on the back of my neck raise. And decided that I might as well head home. I wouldn't be getting my workout today, after all.

As I drove home I had thoughts of clones, experiments and ambushes slaming against the sides of my skull. My head was pounding so of course the last thing that I needed was the first thing that happened when I got home.

I was pulling into the drive mumbling something like 'why couldn't I be going up against a plumber named Fred? Nooo, I've got Mr. Freebird Shadow. What the hell kind of name is-' And yeah, even my thoughts get interupted.

I slowed to a stop and put the car in park. My day had gone from "The sky is raining Erasers" bad to "Oh, good, that rock looks like a nice place to retire." bad in just a split second,

Why? Because Fang was sitting on the porch steps shifting through a bag that looked suspiciously like my gym bag. Oh crap. He was pulling out my gloves and staring at them as if they were snakes. Then I noticed the tape beside his thigh. Double Oh crap.

By now it was painfully obvious that I had forgotten my bag and that Joe had dropped it off, taking the most direct route. A route I never took. 

I stepped out of the car and walked over to him. "Fang, I can-"

"Explain? That is what you were going to say, isn't it? Try explaining that you have been lying to all of us for lord knows how long? Try it! Try explaining that you've been sneaking off to some seedy sweatspot on the wrong side of the tracks. Please enlighten me!" He said in that dangerous calm voice he has when he's about to turn somebody's juggular into his new chew toy.

I was preparing to wage war but the next thing I heard stoped me in my tracks. "Why?"

I looked at Fang. He stared at me with such a distressed, quizical expression that I nearly choked.

Maintaining my steady gaze I replied. "Because I love it. Because it's a time where I'm not a leader. I'm not a freak. I'm not even a 'normal' girl. It's precious minutes where I don't doubt what I do, say and think. I don't second guess myself." 

Taking a breath, I closed my eyes and continued. "I do it because it is the one thing I have that I don't have to share. It makes me special even amongs the flock. It' s a piece of me that let's me be me. It's a hidaway, a place just for me." I said

I held my eyes shut so I didn't have to see his face. "It's a place... were you belong." He ended softly. Almost as if it was a question. I heard the thud of him dropping my glove and then the shuffling as he got up and went inside.

Opening my eyes and looked down. The tape was gone.

Make that a triple Oh crap. 


	8. only thing that matters to Fang, is you

Hurridly I shoved my gear into the bag and ran up the steps into the house only to be bombarded by Iggy screaming at Fang's retreating figure in, what I can only assume was fluent Italian.

With all of the comotion I thought I might be able to sneak past Iggy. Unfortunately I was wrong. He gripped my shoulder hard enough to hurt. "What did you do now!" He demanded. I wasn't in the mood for one of Iggy's I-Feel-So- Left- Out pity parties so I shoved his hand off and headed up the stairs after Fang.

By the time I got to his door it was locked and the abrasive lyrics of "Twisted Transistor" by Korn was echoing through the hall. I pounded on the door.

"Fang! Give me that tape! We need to talk." I pleaded as loudly as I could. His response was to turn his music up even more. Irritated but not detered, I stormed into my room. I lay on my bed trying to put the pieces together.

"Fang! Turn it down! Fang!" I heard Iggy screaming in the hall. I winced. If I thought the music was extrodinarily loud I can't imageine how Iggy was feeling because of his sensitive hearing.

The noise continued untill the power went out. Iggy must have turned off the breakers. A good move on his part. Unfortunately, this lead to Fang slaming his bedroom door and storming down the stairs. He started screaming at Iggy. I heard a tussle and breaking glass all before I reached the stairs. By the time I got to the lower floor Fang was already tearing out of the driveway.

I turned to Iggy, the innocent bystander of this whole ordeal. He was picking up the tiny peices of a broken vase. I stepped over and tried to help him. 

"JUST GO AWAY MAX!" Iggy bellowed, taking me by surprise.

"What? I was just trying to help." I said.

"Help? How about you just mind your own buisness. Fang is pissed at you and I'm the one who gets caught in the middle of it, again. I'm sick of it. You don't get it." He said mumbling.

"I don't get what?" I asked sharply. Perhaps to sharply.

Iggy pointed his head towards me, his face contorting in apparent spasms. This was something I learned was called Improper Facial Responces. It was something that happens to blind people when they aren't able to form an appropriate expression unconsiously.

"The only thing that matters to Fang, is you. When are you going to understand that?" He said bitterly. 

"You aren't making any sense Iggy." I stated calmly, or as calmly as I could at that moment.

Iggy threw the glass in his hand back onto the floor. "Do you think he cares about me? Of course not, I'm the blind kid. I'm special. I'm the non-person. I'm just the one that makes things even around here. In fact, that's why I'm leaving. The only reason Fang freaked out like he did was because he thought you were coming with me!" He stood up and stomped over to a chair.

"Maybe you haven't noticd, but Ella, your sister, doesn't really feel like she belongs eithor. She's watched as she's gained a sister plus two other people who she has had to share with not only her home, but her mother as well. For all of the understanding and loyalty she's given the only thanks that she gets is to be tuned out by Fang and your fights. It's the only thing you two even notice anymore!" He spat at me venomously.

"Yeah, right!" I exclaimed indignantly. 

Iggy turned his face towards the window, feeling the warmth of the light he couldn't see. "Ok. Think about this real hard, Max. When was the last time that she rode to school with us? Or how about the last time we all just sat down as a family without it being a special occasion? In fact, where is Ella right now?" Iggy questioned.

I did think about it and I really didn't like the answers that I was coming up with. A three word answer for every single question. I don't know.

Tears were foming in my eyes. I needed to get away, to think. I needed to fly. I turned my head slightly towards the window without thinking.

"oh, no Max, It's far too bright to take off. You can't just run away from this. Not, right now anyway." Iggy hissed.

"What would you know about how Ella feels? Have you two been talking about me behind my back?" I demanded.

Iggy let out a hysterical laugh. "I don't have to be told anything! I'm an empath. I feel how others feel. No, do you get it? Can't you see what has been going on right in front of you. Do you see what you've done?" He asked darkly.

I took a deep breath and reigned my emotions under control then turned to Iggy.

"Iggy?" I asked.

He pointed his face towards the sound of my voice. I brought up my fist and coldcocked him. Looking at him as he slumped in the chair I shook my head and stormed up to my room... 


	9. The Desolate one is knocking on my door

I lay on my bed thinking of the situation. This is pretty much everything that was going through my mind:

1. Fang see's tape, I'm dead.

2. Can't let Fang see tape.

3. How can this be accomplished? 

Simple? Yeah, I guess so. Then again, I try not to use big words when having a conversation with myself, I get aggitated. 

All in all, I was in a sea of 'Oh Crap!' and my leaky life raft was a black casette tape that happened to be in Mr. Tall, Dark, and Creepy's hands. My, what a perdiciment.

If Fang see's that-... If Fang see's that tape...

I jumped off my bed. There's only one person stupid enough to lock themselves out of their room in a huff of anger, and that's me! All I have to do is sneak my way into Fang's room, grab the tape and POW! No more issue!

Like I said, simple.

I stepped out into the hall and opened Fang's door. The room was immaculate. Go figure.

I scanned the room, briefly, and found that he hadn't just left it out in the open. I Started to look in the obvious places as quietly as I could.

"If you're looking for whatever he took from you, it's in his desk drawer. I heard him shove it their right before that racket started." 

Iggy. I turned around and he was leaning against the door frame, his eyes not exactly in the direction his face was pointed. Sometimes, living with this guy was creepy. It was something I was used to but occasionally, when I forgot he was blind, it gave me the heebeejeebies.

"And why exactly are you helping me?" I asked. With Ig, there is always a catch.

He only smirked and walked away. "You aren't the only one I'm mad at, Max." He said nonchalantly over his shoulder.

"Oookay." I said and shook my head.

'My flock is wierd, my flock is wierd...' I was thinking as I opened the desk drawer. Bingo! Tape cassette in hand I started to close the drawer again.

That's when I noticed a black notebook. Not just any notebook, The Notebook. Capitals and all. This is the only physical proof that Fang is not in fact some sort of android. Okay, a bit over dramatic, but come on! It's like finding your little sister's diary... Not that I'd ever do anything like that... More then once... At least not getting caught...

Hmmm... My conscience was dukeing it out on my shoulders. Unfortunatly, they both have wings. Now, notebook in custody, I decided I'd better go before Ol' Snaggle Tooth came home. 

Then just as unstealthily as I came in, I left.

"Find it?" Iggy asked.

I looked to where he was sitting in the hall running his fingers over the pages of a braile book. "Yeah. Thanks."

He knodded and continued sliding his fingertips across the page.

Stepping into my room I closed and locked the door, giving it knob a sound giggle for good measure. I lay down on my bed and looked at the notebook in my hand. Don't for a second think that I was debating weithor to read it or not. Nope, I was just letting the anticipation build.

"Entry 2134  
May 11th, Max's Birthday. It should have been happy. I wanted to be happy for her but... I can't believe they both lied to me! I knew Iggy was going away. But nobody told me that they were leaving together. I'm more then a little upset right now, I even made a specticule of my self.

If I'm going to fix this, I'll have to do it after she gets back from her flight. Give her some time to calm down." 

Ohhh... My birthday! If there was ever any answers for 'Incident #6' This would be the place to find it. I turned the page. 

"Entry 2135  
Technically May 12th. I'm an idiot. I couldn't think of how to express how much I didn't was her to go, so I kissed her. Again.  
I am so incredably stupid! I'm not some awkward 14 year old kid anymore! And why do I only kiss her when she's leaving,anyway? Is it the only time I need to be like that. Does it ever make a difference? Not usually. Completely unacceptable.   
Yet..."

It was so like Fang to write three sentence entries and leave them incomplete. I continued reading. Here's where things get weird.

"Entry 2136  
Max is staying. Today her car got destroyed. I don't know who did it but when I find out... It won't be pretty. The look on Max's face was awful. I don't think I've seen her this upset since Op Angel. That upsets me.  
I could see how upset she was so I loaned her my car. I know how much of a relief it is to be able to just get away like everybody else does. I thought it would help.  
Then, about an hour and a half later some jerk shows up asking for Max. I could tell just by looking at him that he was a sleezball. I asked what he wanted with her and he said to give her back her bag. I was confused. Max goes nowhere without that bag.  
To be perfectly honest, I was worried that something had happened to her. Imagine my shock, when I find out she's been boxing.  
Doesn't she realize she could get hurt? How could she not tell anybody? How long has she been doing this! How long has she been putting herself at risk without telling me.  
I have that same, strange sense of forboding that I had the time she decided to set up an archeological dig in her arm with a seashell. I don't like this feeling. I don't know what it is, but I don't like it..." 

Well, that wasn't good. It was very, very, bad in fact. Bad and creepy. A sudden suspicion crept throught me and I started flipping throught the pages. Yep... Just as I thought.

"Entry 1846  
Max is still upset because I won't go see that stupid movie with her. What is her deal? I just don't want to be around that many people, in the dark to watch something that's gonna be on DVD in a month.  
Does she HAVE to make me feel guilty about everything I say or do, or don't do? Fine! I watch the stupid movie with all of it's 100,000 mouth breathing people, sticky floors and annoying commercials.  
Oh great, The Desolate one is knocking on my door as we speak."

"Entry 1847  
You know, the movie wasn't all that bad. I guess it's one of those things that's not about what you're doing. It's who you're doing it with. Wait, that came out wrong. Way wrong.  
Shuting up now before I hurt myself trying to pry my foot out my mouth with my ball point." 

"Entry 1850  
Yet another fight with Max. That obsitinate, pig-headed... Girl! I wan't to rip my hair out!  
You know, sometimes I can't believe the stuff that comes out of her mouth.  
"How would you know, Fang. You're only experience with girls was the red-headed wonder bra."  
That was three and a half years ago. Why can't she just let it go! I was never interested in... Crap, forgot her name. But anyway, I wasn't interested in her. I didn't even LIKE her.  
Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't she the one playing suckface with mister "I'm-so-perfect-I-Make-You-Wanna-Puke"??  
And another thing. Why is it whenever I even THINK about that... that... boy with Max I want to throw up anyway?"

Crap. This was getting really creepy. Every single entry in there was about me. Me. Why me? I'd only seen anybody elses name maybe twice the entire time. 

Then I heard the familiar crunching of Fangs tires on the gravel. He was home. Double crap. I dive underneath my bed and pull up a loose board very carefully. I look at the small pink book already there. Ella. Sometimes I wish I hadn't taken her diary so she'd still be writing in one. Then maybe I could steal it and find out what's going on with her.

After the carnage of the derailment of my train of thought had cleared up, I shoved both the tape and the notebook into my hiding spot and replace the plank. 

Weasling out from under my bed I grabbed a clean pair of pajamas and my robe and ran into my bathroom and started the shower. I'm just delaying the inevitable again, I think. He's gonna confront me sometime and I can't always be in the shower.

The familiar two-tap knock on my door alerts me of his presence. I am already mid shampoo and don't intend to stop, just because he knocked.

After I finished my shower, dried off and got changed I prepared myself for the can of worms I had opened. I opened my bedroom door and stepped into the hall.

Something smooshed beneath my foot. It was really gross felling. As soon as I looked down, I wish I hadn't.

I was standing in a very large puddle of fresh, wet, blood. 


	10. Then what, ran through a woodchipper?

"Oh my god." I said under my breath. "Fang!" I yelled. Fang had to be where the blood came from. I carefully stepped over the blood puddle walked over to Fang's room. Fang was slumped on the floor by his bed.

"You know, you could have said something like, "Hey Max, I'm bleeding to death out here." I just might have ended my shower early for that." I said sarcastically as I knelt beside him.

He looked at me for a second and smirked. "The day Nudge shuts up." He replied and started to take his shirt off.

"Oh no, buddy. We're going to cut that off. You might dislodge any clots that are already developed if you move to much." I said and looked around.

He rolled his eyes and pointed to his desk. "The scissors are in the drawer." He said, giving up on the motions.

I stood up and walked over to the desk and opened the drawer. The scissors wheren't there.

"They aren't here." I told him. 

"They're there." He stated

I rolled my eyes. "I'm not blind, they're not there." He looked at me for a moment as if to say look again. Not one to be ordered about I grabbed the drawer and dumped it onto the floor. "See, no scissors." Fang looked at the scattered items on the carpeted floor.

"Okay, plan B. There is a knife in my left boot." He said and looked at the other wall.

"What?" I said to myself. I knew he wouldn't repeat himself so I just knelt down and slipped my fingers up his left pant leg untill I got to the edge of the combat boot.The knife was clipped to the inside of his foot. I grabbed it and started cutting off his shirt. A pair of scissors would have made this job far easier because the knife didn't cut straight. I decided to scrap Fang's Plan B and just unbuttoned his shirt.

"What are you doing now?" He asked me, his brow raised.

"You don't want to know." Was my reply right before I ripped the shirt off.

Fang let out a strangled gasp of pain and looked me in the eyes. "Ow?" He said sarcastically.

I wanted to puke. His right side looked like ground hamburger. Not only that but by the way his ribs were waving at me from the surface I was pretty sure he'd broken them."What happened?"

"I got beat up." 

"And then ran throught a woodchipper? This is a lot worse then just getting 'beat up'." I said and applied a slight prssure to his ribs. Suddenly blood started gushing out of the wounds and I grit my teeth. "I'm getting Mom." I said and stood up.

"No!" He shouted. I turned and looked down on him. "Can't you just fix it?" He was pleading without pleading again. I understood why. If I told Mom, she'd come in and take him to her clinc. It wasn't her fault that the clinc smelt like anti-septic, the smell that made of the flock a little ill.

"I can't fix this. You're going to bleed out if I don't get her." I said softly. He stared at me, looking for the truth of my words in my eyes. He knodded and I ran down the hall to Mom's room.

I pounded on the door. "Mom, Fang's hurt, grab your bag." I heard shuffling behind the door and she appeared in her nightgown, black bag in hand. I lead her to Fangs room.

"Fang! What happened?" She asked him as she knelt by him and opened her bag. "Max, got get towels. Wet two of them and hurry."

I ran out of the room and went to the closet across the hall. I grabbed an armload of towels and set them by his door. Grabbing two I went to the bathroom he shared with Iggy and wet them down real well with hot water. I scooped up the other towels and headed back in.

"We're going to have to go to the clinic. You need surgery." She said and started to wipe hime down.

"I'm not going to the clinic." He said and tried to push her hands away.

I looked at mom desperately. "Mom, please? There's got to be something you can do here."

"I can't even give you pain killers without the proper percautions." She said to him as she watched the towel she was holding to his ribs turn red.

Fang darted his eyes around untill he spotted me by mom's side. "Max..." He said to me.

I really don't like being in these situations. "Mom! Just do something!" I said. She turned to me, shocked that I'd spoken to her like that.

She looked from me to Fang and bit down on her lip. "Max, hand me purple topped bottle in there." I looked down into her bag and grabbed the bottle and handed it to her. I recognized the pills by their distinctive "V" patern. Mom poured about five pills in her palm and shoved them into Fangs mouth. "Swallow those."

He complied but still looked panicked. After about a minute he stopped strugging from mom and his features started to slack. "What did... she...give me?" He asked in the familiar state of Valium induces loopiness.

I kept a straight face and replied, "Tylenol with codene, It's called Vicodin." I said and looked at mom with the "Just smile and nod your head" expression on my face.

She shook her head and said "Help me strip his bed." We pulled the comforter and sheets off and lined the bed with towels. I knew what was comming next so I ran to get Iggy. He was already at the door waiting for orders. He must have heard the comotion. "Can you help me lift him onto the bed?" He knodded and we hauled Fangs giggling form onto the bed.

Mom opened up the disinfectant and the smell filled the room. Even doped up Fang went rigid. "Max!" He yelled.

I hurried to the other side of the bed and grabbed his hand. "It's okay, Fang, I'm right here. It's just mom working on you." He stared at me and pushed his hair out of his eyes. "Would I ever lie to you?" I asked.

"Yes." he replied. It felt like he'd just ripped my heart out.

Taking a deep breath I calmly said "Just shut up and enjoy the ride. Mom does great work." He smirked and kept eye contact with me. Suddenly his face went very serious. "Don't leave me, Max. I need you here."

I knew he meant while mom was fixing him up but I couldn't help but be reminded of the night of my birthday. "I'll stay Fang, don't worry."

He looked at me and then did something I'll forever thank Valium for. He smiled. Not a smirk, not a grin, A full on smile. Something I don't think I'd ever seen before. "I cause you so much trouble." He said.

Oh, now here was an opertunity. "About as much as I cause you. Mutual chaos and what not." I replied.

"You do cause a lot of trouble." He said slurridly.

I acted offended and said "Tell me how you really feel, why don't you!" I said. I was just waiting for something crazy to come out of his mouth so I could get him back for the whole I love you this much thing.

"LIke crap. I did get jumped and run over by a car." He said matter of factly. I looked at mom. She knew what I was thinking and knodded.

"Yes, Max. The injuries are consistant to that." She said and I heard a sickening slurping sound. I looked down to she mom stick her fingers into a three inch incision on his side.

I passed out and I woke up to Ig's hand waving something putrid under my nose. "Oh gross! What is that!" I demanded.

He smirked and tossed the pad away. "It's amonia. Nothing like cat pee to wake you up in the morning,huh?" 

I shook my head and tried to sit up. The world decided it hated me and I was decided it was a good idea to lay down for a few more seconds. "Take it easy, Max." Iggy said as he helped me sit up.

"You okay, Max?" Fang said from the bed. 

"Yeah, I'm okay." I replied, rubbing my now throbing head.

"You should of seen it! You looked down and then just flopped over! Like a fish!" Fang declared and started giggling. I was turning red again but he started whincing. "Laughing hurts." He said softly. Then he started giggling again. "Ow... ow... ow..." He siad with a yelp of pain. 

"Gee Mom, how long is he going to be like this?" I asked.

"What? In surgery?" She asked as she started stitching him up.

I looked at her firmly. "Off is rocker." I retorted.

"Oh, his meds already wore off. He just thinks you're amusing when you flop like a fish it seems." She said and cut the last stitch.

"How? I was wonky for hours!" I said.

She took out a large piece of paper out of her bag, it was a clear adhessive bandage that she put over the ribs so she could check for drainage. "I gave you medical strength injectables. About 200 cc's. that about 500 milligrams of that tablets and he only took a hundred."

Go figure, my one chance for revenge and I just had to pass out.

"Hey Max, thanks for helping me." He said and reached for my hand. I gave it to him and smirked. "It wasn't like I was going anywhere."

Mom gave me instructions to watch his tempature and check for signs of infection around the incision then she went back to bed. I closed the door behind her and steped over to the left side of the bed. "Iggy, can you just help me bring him to my room so he can get some sleep. I need to get this cleaned up too."

Iggy shrugged and ran his hands along Fang's side. "How are we going to do this? His side is really messed up. Just picking him up could break the stitches." I Looked around and found a sheet that had been tossed off the bed.

"We roll him onto his good side and slip the sheet underneath him.Then we grab the ends and haul him to my room." I said.

Iggy helped Fang turn over as I unfurled the sheet. After a small struggle with the sheet we were heading to the room. I'm sure it must have looked very odd because we weren't successful in keeping it straight so Fang was a giant lump still touching the floor as we shuffled down the hall.

Finally after we got him settled in bed I said good night to Iggy and turned off the lights. Pulling back the covers on the right side of the bed, I lay down. "Good Night, Fang." 

I was almost asleep when Fang rolled over and brought his arm around my waist. " G'night Max."

I held very still for a while trying to figure this one out. I decided that he was just more comfortable this way. That was a good excused for him concidering his ribs were broken, but what about me. Why did I feel more comfortable like that too?

Soon I drifted off into a night of dreams that evaperated like dew in the first minutes of morning. I awoke to Nude's exclamations of "Oh my god! Max! Fang! You two make a cute couple!" I was preparing to destroy the alramclock and probably strangle Gazzy through the phone line when I noticed a dark figure in the doorway.

"Nudge!" 


	11. FnickolasFnickolby, password's gotwings

It was great to have Nudge there, don't get me wrong, but I can't help but wonder why she was there. Nudge never does anything like this without a reason. All suspicions that I had pointed to me cornering and grilling her. Both of which were not valiable options when an Injured Fang is using me as a pillow and I'm trying not to wake him.

"Nudge, shhh!" I said and rose a finger to my lips then pointed at Fang. 

To my dismay Nudge just looked at me confused. "What?" She asked. Isn't it obvious?

"Fang's a-" I looked down. "Wake." Yep, that's right. A big pair of shiney brown/black eyes starting at me... Again. "Will you cut it out with the non-blinking staring thing already!? It's -REALLY- creepy!" I said shouting at the head on my shoulder.

"Maaxxx!" Nudge was trying to get my attention.

I turned my head to face nudge again. "Yes?" I asked. This had better be good. 

Nudge looked apperhensive for a moment and then just blurted it out. "Where is all that blood from?" I looked down to where she was pointing. There were dinner plate sized blotches of blood on the sheet. Oh crap.

"Fang? Fang are you okay? I think you tore your stitches." I said and his arm off of me. 

"I don't think so. I'm sore, but not in agonizing pain." Fang said and slowly sat up. I pulled the sheet away to see that Fang's bandage was still in place and the wounds were clean and appeared to be healing nicely. I breathed a sigh of relief.

Then a thought occured to me. If it's wasn't Fangs, and it wasn't mine... Then who's was it?

I through the blanket over and heard a sharp metalic clunking. Frowning I looked over the side of the bed. On the hardwood floor was a pair of bloodied scissors. Fangs scissors if the big, bold, sharpie written word "Fang's" was any clue.

"Nudge, we've got a serious problem." I said to her. She looked at me and then down at the floor.

Suddenly a voice of such pure clarity entered my mind and with a whisper made my heart sink. "Ella" I bolted out of bed and nearly succeded in steping on the forementioned scissors. I ran past Nudge and ignored her protest as I made my way down stairs. Once I got into the livingroom I found Ella. She was sitting on the couch watching some show.

"Ella, are you okay?" I asked. Ella looked at me and frowned for a moment. Then she smiled. "Of course, Max. Why?"

I knew she was lying to me. Both me and Ella got our lying skills from Mom, which is to say that all three of us won't be going to Vegas any time soon.

"You're lying. What's wrong?" I demanded. A flurry of emotion crossed her features for a moment untill they settled back to her "cheerful" face.

"It' just school stuff." She said and turned off the tv. Ella started to head to her room when I grabbed her arm. The reaction was so microscopic that I might have missed it if I wasn't looking for it. She winced. I pulled my hand away and saw the blood ooze onto her shirt.

"Ella? What happened to your arm?" I asked suspiciously.

Ella snatched her arm back and covered the rapidly growing bloodstain with her hand. "It's just a scratch. Jenn's cat bit me yesterday and I'm begining to thing that I should have gotten stitches. It was a tottal accident." She said and walked away, ending the discussion with a turn of her back.

"I, for one, am not buying that at all." Nudge stated behind me.

I watched Ella close her bedroom door with a sinking feeling. "I'm with you on that one, Nudge. You just might be onto something." I turned around to see Nudge looking the most worrisome I've ever seen her. "Things around here aren't usually this dramatic. I'm so glad you're here, I've really needed to talk to somebody." With this I wrapped her in a hug.

Then I practically dragged her to the kitchen. "I'm starved so I know that you're probably famished. How'd you get here anyway?" I asked.

Nudge sat down at the table and looked around. "Well, I took a flight. Like, on a plane. It's weird being on a plane when you can actually fly. But it's so much easier!" She exclaimed.

I was rummaging through the cabnets and looked at her from around the door, "So, pancakes or poptarts?" I asked.

A wicked expression presented itself on her face. "Depends. Who's cooking?"

"I'll have you know I can cook now!" I exclaimed. I'm not that bad of a cook, come on now.

"I don't want to be poisoned my first day here so lets go with poptarts." Nudge said as if it was a decision that had taken much thought. I tossed her both the poptarts and a glower.

Suddenly her mood became somber, this is not my Nudge. "Max... There's something I've got to tell you. I'm not sure how you'll take it, so please don't hate me." I heard her spew.

Okay, so maybe this is my Nudge after all. "Uh, okay." I say, still holding the poptart box in my hand.

"Max, you're in great danger. It's not Itex or the usual suspects." She said in that "I'm - dancing- around - the- bad- part" way of hers.

"Oh really?"

Nudge looked at me. "Fang called me about you're car. He wanted me to check into it. I hacked into the goverment's satelite network and I know who did it." She said and looked at me.

My legs were starting to go weak as I sat down on the seat next to her. "And?" 

"You aren't going to like it." She said wincing. 

"Nudge, I'm a big girl now. I think I can handle it." I said and placed a hand on her shoulder.

Nudge reached into her jacket and pulled out a manilla envelope. "I'm not so sure about that." She said and pulled out a couple photo's and slid them across to me.

I looked at the first picture, there was a guy there, a guy with wings. He stood there holding out a baseball bat to somebody off screen. It had to be shadow, unfortunately, the angle of the shot made it almost impossible to make out his features. I grabbed the second picture and looked at it.

In this one a girl was taking the bat from him and looking towards him. I couldn't make her out because her hair was in the way. The third picture floored me. The girl was standing on my hood, bashing in my windshield. Finally after a few more pictures of the destruction the girl looked up. My blood ran cold in my veins. I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

"This is a lie. Complete crap. You're pulling my leg arent' you, Nudge?" I asked. She only looked down at the table. "Come on Nudge, tell me it's a joke."

She took a deep breath. "Just because you don't like what you see, doesn't make it a lie, Max." she said softly.

I through the picture onto the table. "But it can't be true!" I exclaimed.

Fang stepped into the room and he seemed concerned. "What's going on here girls?" I turned my face away and looked at the floor.

"I got that information you wanted, Fang." Nudge said very quietly.

His expression became very serious. He limped forward and grabbed the back of my chair for support. He grabbed the picture on the top of the pile and looked at it. First his brow raised and then I watched as he bagan to build up his rage.

"Where is she?" He asked.

Nudge started to say something but for once, I interrupted. "We don't know."

Fang looked murderous and stormed out of the kitchen and a few moments later I heard the front door slam. I waited untill his car was out of the drive before I stood up.

Nudge held out a hand to stop me. "Max don't do anything stupid."

I took a breath. "I don't plan too." I replied and turned to her. "I think I just saved her life." I said and picked up the picture again. I looked hard into the eyes of my betrayer.

"Why, Ella?" 


	12. a test of our FANG GET BACK HERE System

Nudge looked at me, and for a moment there was this conection. She knew how I was feeling and she knew that I wasn't sure what I was going to do. She blinked and the moment was gone.

As soon as our connection was broken I stormed out of the room. I marched down to Ella's room, which was the only bedroom on the first floor. First I pounded on the door like a madwoman and then tried the knob. The door was locked. My immediant reaction was to start kicking the door. The door flew open, wood splinters flying as the lock ripped throught the molding on the door frame. I expected defiant screams but was only welcomed with silence.

Ella wasn't there. I looked around her room, the window was open. Had she run away from me as I was kicking the door in?

"Max!" Nudge exclaimed, bringing me back to my unfortunate reality.

I turned to face her and looked her in the eye. "Check the window. Tell me why she left."

By the way her lips twitched I was almost positive she was about to say something obvious like, "Maybe because some crazy woman was kicking her door in? I remember doing that a few times.", but she had learned some restraint over the years. She walked over to the window and placed her hands on the window's ledge. Closing her eyes she seemed to be focusing.

"She's been gone for almost a half hour already. She felt... Anger and resentment." Nudge shook her head as if to erase was she was seeing. She opened her eyes and looked down again. Then she gasped.

"What?" I asked moving towards her.

"She wasn't alone, Max. Somebody was with her... Inside her." She said in barely a whisper.

"Like the voice?" I asked warily.

Nudge shook her head of curly gold streaked curls. "No... More like a posession or something. Another person was actually inside of her when this happened."

Okay, now this was getting weird. Well, weirder than usual. Was Nudge saying my sister was possessed? 

"Like, I'm supposed to call a priest or something?" I asked sarcastically.

Nudge rolled her eyes. "Well, you could do that, but I don't think it'd work. We have to find Ella in order to figure out who it is."

Then a thought dawned on me. "We have to find her before Fang does."

Never underestimate the observance of Nudge. "Max, what haven't you been telling anyone?" Notice how she asked that? Not 'what haven't you told me.'

Awkwardly I looked to the ceiling and then to my shoe. "Alot." I said and started to walk out of the room. Iggy was standing in the hall. He had heard the entire thing.

"That's an understatement." Iggy whispered as passed him. I stoped mid-step.

"And what would you know of it?" I asked.

"Oh not this again,Max!" He stated. "I know more then you give me credit for. I also know that we have no way of finding eithor of them right now."

"Oh, we can find them!" I exclaimed.

"Fang's tearing up the roads in his car and Ella got picked up by a large vehicle and has a thirty minute lead on us." He interjected.

I would have asked him how he knew that but then I remembered the super-freaky hearing thing.

"Then we split up and track them down." I said.

"On what? Bicycles? Neithor me nor Nudge here, drives if you haven't forgotten." He said in his 'I'm not being sarcastic, really' voice.

Oh. Yeah. Well that blew Plan A out to some nebulus region of space. "Then what do you propose we do? Wait?" I asked.

"That is an option." He said. I glared at him, a futile move but a deeply ingraved reaction. "But I was thinking more along the lines of calling Fang on his cell phone."

I blinked. Twice. "He has a cellphone?" I asked. Why had I not recieved this memo? 

"He does now." Iggy said gesturing to Ella's computer. I was offically confused. "Nudge, guess who has satalite radio? Do you think you could swing it?"

Nudges eyes went wide. "I need a head set, but it's all but done." 

Within moments Nudge was seated at the desk and appareantly hacking into the system. I can't really explain how she did it, I'm not the uber gifted computer hacker.

Suddenly she gave a resounding sigh. "I can't believe this."

"What?" I asked.

"I can hack into anything else but this is they only time I've ever had to have the name and password. It's so simplistic that there is no backdoor." She sighed. "Any guesses?"

Iggy spoke up. "FnickolasFnickolby, password's gotwings. Not very orginal is he?"

"And how do you know that?" I asked.

"Max, the wall have ears." He said and shrugged.

Suddenly Nudge jumped up, "Guys, I'm in." She handed the headphones to Iggy.

"We now interupt your previously scheduled programing for a test of our FANG GET YOUR ASS BACK HERE system." Iggy said. I ripped the head set off. "Ow, Max, I needed those ears!"

Nudge was kind enough to roll her eyes and ignore him, "Guys, their security is closing in, I can only keep it open for a few more seconds!" Nudge exlaimed.

"Fang, it's Max. Please come back. There's a lot of stuff I need to tell you. Don't do anything stupid." I managed to get that out before Nudge gave the dead signal. Now all we could do was wait and hope. 


	13. Hey you just said that I was awesome

On a list of words that describe me, you will not find 'hopeful', nor are you likely to find 'patient'. Fortunately for me, and all things breathing and not, I didn't have to wait long.

We had been sitting in perfect silence for only ten minutes when we heard the door open. I smelt Fang, and his ire, before he even stepped foot on the kitchen floor,

The very distinct smell of an agitated/ angry Fang is something that can only be compared to that of a chocolate coated red hot. I grew accustomed to that smell shortly before we left that house that looked like and 'E' on it's side. Strangely, Fang had a scent for every mood, yet I'm the only one who' noticed. I once asked Iffy in he smelt it. This lead to both the hilarious viewing of him stalking Fang, sniffing the air behind him for an entire week, and then the disastrous event of the broken nose. Iggy's reply to his experiment's conclusion? "He smells like soap, sweat and pain,"

I looked up at Fang ad for once, took in the changes. He'd stopped growing at 5'11. Nearly six feet tall, but four inches shorter than Iggy. A fact that perturbed Fang to no end. I stopped growing when I was sixteen and stud only 5'9, so I still think he's tall. The most startling change was that of his demeanor. As and adolescent , he's been an obvious force to be reckoned with. Now, as an adult, he was down right intimidating.

Currently he was intimidating and angry. A chill ran down my spine.

"Does anyone care to explain themselves?" He asked in that deadly tone he uses before he sends somebody to the hospital. He glanced at me for a mere second before glaring at Iggy.

"Nudge has brought some new information to the surface. I think you should hear it." I said in what I refer to as 'the leader voice'. It was the only tone of voice that could silence even an irate Fang.

He raised a brow and crossed his arms over his chest. "Do tell, Nudge."

Hey, I said silence, not sedate.

Nudge straightened her posture, looking something like a TV anchorwoman. "Well, I think that there are outside forces either controlling or working with Ella, form within her," She paused and took a breath. "As crazy as it sounds, I thinking she's possessed."

Fang looked at us all until is black – brown eyes locked with mine. "Possessed?" He said disbelieving.

Iggy stood up. "Ella hasn't been acting like herself for some time now, guys."

In an instant all eyes were on him.

Only Nudge had the presence of mind to break the silence. "What do you mean, Iggy?"

He thought for a second. Probably carefully selecting his words. "I've heard her talking to herself. I thought she was on a phone at first, but there were not other voices and no replies. Haven't you two noticed the changes in her behavior? She's been avoiding us!"

"We need to help her!" Nudge exclaimed.

Fang sprung from his leaning position against the wall. "Help her? She's a threat! Look what she did to Max's car How can we even think about helping her?"

I visibly started at his words.

Then I thought of the bloodied scissors on my bedspread. As if I was watching it take placed in front of me, I saw Ella opening my bedroom door. Light from the hall giving the blades a glittering and ominous presence.

"Are you sure about this?" She asked hesitantly.

"Ella, I don't like this anymore that you do. It's only a minor delay, Nor is it life threatening. We only have one chance to prevent this." The voice was coming from the shadows.

She stopped for a second. "Just like the car?"

"No. The car was the primary threat at that time. You could call it Plan A. Now we're trying to stop Plan B."

She nodded, stepping closer to me, the glinting blades at her side. Ella held the scissors point down in her hands and prepared to plunge the steel into the flesh of my shoulder. "I'm sorry, Max." She whispered and dove the blades downwards.

As if it had a mind of it's own, Fang's arm shot out and deflected the blades back at Ella, sending them deep into the underside of her arm. Amazingly, Fang had not even stirred, his breathing was still regular.

Meanwhile Ella nearly screamed but merely whimpered as she wrenched the embedded metal from her arm. She looked at them in morbid fascination before throwing them beside my legs.

"I'll be prepared for pick up tomorrow..."

I opened my eyes and looked at Fang.

"You saw something, didn't you?" He demanded.

I Shook my head. How could I explain what had happened anyway?

Fang stepped forward and placed his right hand on the back of my chair. With his left, he lifted my face up to face him. He knelt down beside me so I could look him in the eye.

"Max, tell me what you saw. How can I help you, protect you, if you don't tell me what I'm up against?" He asked I smelt something like smoldering hickory. The smell of Fang's fear.

"I'm perfectly capable of protecting myself, Fang." I said.

"Max." Iggy warned me.

"Fang, she's working with somebody, I don't know who. All I know is that they are trying to help us." I said sternly.

For a moment Fang had looked stricken and then defiant. "You're lying."

"No, she's telling the truth, I saw it too!" A small, bell-like voice said from behind me. I turned away from Fang and couldn't believe my eyes.

"Angel?" I asked.

"Don't get too excited, Max. I'm telepathically projecting my image." She said. " I'm not really here."

Okay, now this is getting really weird. Before I even got the chance to actually voice my opinions out loud Angel was speaking again.

"Max, you're right. She's trying to save you. I don't know from what, but it's a very real danger, one that she's taking great risks to keep you safe from." She stopped for a moment, "Max, you have to loose the match. It's the only way to save you."

"Match?" Fang asked and glared at me.

I ignored Fang. "If that's the problem, then I'll just back out." I said firmly.

Angel shook her head sadly. "No, you have to be there it's the only way it'll work."

"Only way what will work?" Fang demanded.

Angel, who never got used to Fang's outbursts started to open her mouth. Then somebody who I could swear was an older Angel stood behind her and placed a hand over her mouth.

The older Angel looked at us and smiled lovingly. "It will be made right soon, guys." She said, and then both of the Angels disappeared.

"HELLO! Can somebody, anybody, clue me in on what just transpired three feet away from me, please?" Iggy asked sarcastically.

Fang stood up and marched over to the phone. He pressed some buttons and waited for a few minutes. "Gazzy? I need to speak to- What do you mean she's missing!"

I stood up to grab the phone out of his hands, but I sand to the floor instead. Bright flashes of light and pain exploded behind my eyes. I felt that if I didn't hold the sides of my skull together the sections of bone would come unglued and shoot off in different directions at high velocity. I then realized that I wasn't breathing. Taking deep gulps I found myself trying to force oxygen to the brain that I was single- handedly holding in one piece.

"Max!" Nudge screamed, sending flashing pains through my badly abused brain.

"Fang, get over here!" Iggy insisted.

Tears slid down my cheeks from my tightly squinted eyes. I felt arms wrap around me, the smell of smoldering hickory filling my nose.

"Max, don't fight it. It's only Jeb, remember? Fighting it only makes it worse. I'm here, you're perfectly safe. Don't fight it." Fang whispered into my ear.

I stopped fighting it, as my reward I lost consciousness.

The familiar dis-conjunct sensation of a "Max Attack" engulfed me.

"Max, don't interfere. You were created to save the world, he was created to save you. IT"s his purpose, why he exists. Don't buck the system. Go with the flow, Max."

"Dad, you really need to get the whole phone-call thing one of these days. This 'reach- out- and – stick- an- M80- in – your- daughter's – right hemisphere' thing has got to stop." I thought.

"Good. Sarcasm. I see you're coping well. Unfortunately, I'm not in a position that would allow me to just call you, Max. I had now other choice."

"Jeb, Angel's mi-" As always, I was interrupted.

"Angel is perfectly safe. She will be returned after the match. She knows just enough to prove dangerous if left to interfere."

"What's going on!" I demanded.

"All you need to know is that we're trying to save you. Don't get in Fang's way of doing so."

I wanted to ask more questions but the connection had been terminated and I could feel consciousness creeping in on me.

When I woke up, Fang was still there looking down at me.

"Want to through up yet?" He asked with a small grin. I wanted desperately to say 'no', but the pop – tarts from earlier were already trying to make a guest appearance.

"Help!" I said trying hard to keep my stomach and it's contents in their proper positions.

Fang picked me up and carried me into the bathroom. I got there not a second too soon. Let me tell you, dry heaving isn't a hobby I'll be picking up anytime soon.

I closed the lid and flushed the toilette. Fang was already there with a cool, wet washcloth in hand. He gently wiped my face and neck.

"Thank you. I feel like crap." I whispered hoarsely.

"Thanks for not doing it on my shirt, again." He replied.

Ever since I published those books, people have talked about us non stop. We each have developed out own cult-like following, even my deceased brother, Ari. Many stories have been written from our supposed points of view. Unfortunately, nobody has ever quite managed to capture Fang's very dry sense of humor. Often I sit back and think that this is a great fault of humanity. How can millions of people miss the key sense of a person as an individual. Especially someone as unique as Fang.

"Fang," I say, "You're awesome. I'm naming my first kid after you." I stated with a smile.

He smirked, "Yeah? Well I personally feel awful for the poor girl. With a name like "Fang" sher social life is doomed."

I grinned weakly, "she could wind up being just like you! How awful!" I said and stood up.

Fang wrapped and arm around my shoulder, "Hey,, I thought you just said that I was awesome?" He said as he helped me walk out of the bathroom.

"Yeah, but could you imagine two of you? All dark and mysterious, black feathers," And yet I could imagine two of them. I thought about the video and the mysterious Shadow with his troublesome black wings. "...everywhere." I said trailing off.

Fang stopped and looked at me, "What is it, Max?"

I knew I couldn't tell him. "Just a bit dizzy, I'm better now."

Fang looked at me sternly. "You're lying, but I know you'll tell me eventually. So I'll let it go." With that he escorted me up the steps.

"So, how's your side doing?" I asked him conversationally.

"I feel like I got hit by a car." He replied dead-pan.

"Want to take a nap?" I asked him.

He looked at me as we reached the landing. "Sure." He said non commitably.

Once we got to room I groaned. With all of the excitement of the past couple of hours I'd forgotten that there was blood, Ella's blood, on my bed spread.

"My room then?" Fang asked already assisting me out of the room.

"Sounds good." I replied.

I had too take an armload of towels down to the incinerator before we could make the bed. When I crawled in the bed I turned to Fang. "How did you know I was lying?"

He set his book flat against his chest and looked thoughtful for a moment. "Vanilla." and then he went back to reading.

Between Fang and Jeb I had all the answers and still no clue.

I went to sleep and dreamt of things I ought not have.


	14. It was a pickle fork

I was standing at the sink furiously scrubbing at the black demise that was once my arch enemy,

oatmeal. The fire alarm was going off somewhere in the house. I heard laughter and grumbled to

myself as I stabbed the burnt lumps off the bottom of the pot.

"So, who's winning?" A familiar voice asked from behind me. I turned around to see Fang leaning

against the counter.

"MOM! Where's my shirt?" I hear off in the distance. A young girl, maybe all of nine years old,

storms into the room. Her light brown hair hangs down her back in a French braid and she

stands in front of me expectantly. Minutes pass and she just stands there staring at me. I look

down at her preparing to ask her why she seems to think I'm an exhibit in a museum. Then

something really strange happens.

"Sorcha, it's in the dryer, stop hassling your mother." Fang chides.

Who's kid is this anyway?

"Why does she have to stare at me like that?" I ask, but not intending to say anything.

Fang gives me a hug. "It's a stage. Remember when Bran used to hang from the ceiling and throw

stuff into the ceiling fan paddles? He grew out of that, right?" He said reassuringly.

"Why are our kids so …. So…. WEIRD! It's all your fault somehow, I just know it." My body says,

because I certainly didn't intend to say that.

He laughs, "Whatever helps you sleep at night."

"AUG! Leave you alone ten minutes and you're already testing out the non-stick warrantees!"

Iggy complains jokingly as he enters the room. "Out! I can hear the garbage disposal crying!"

"Thanks, Iggy." I say sarcastically.

"Nothing to it, sis. Oh, and I thought you should know that Bran is, once again, on the ceiling. I

think he's got silverware this time. I'd stay out of the living room for a while." He says, as he

inspects the pot I was scrubbing with his fingers. Wrinkling his nose he throws the pot in the

trash. "I ask for a moment of silence for the Pyrex ware pot, 'cause Max done killed it!"

I was already glaring at Fang. "A stage? A stage!"

He raised a brow. "I never said it was a stage. I said it was a phase." He said as he purposely

ducked around me and headed for the living room. "BRAN! Get off the ceiling- OW- RIGHT THIS

INSTANT"

I awoke, startled from my sleep. What the heck was that all about? I looked over towards the

arm that was draped over me. Fang. I took a deep breath trying to sooth my nerves. What a

weird dream.

What time is it anyway? I try to look over at the clock only to realize that I cant move. I panic,

why aren't I moving? Come on, move. Wiggle your toes, scratch your butt, pick your nose,

something! Yet the sinking sensation of a quadriplegic is my only sensation. I even try to scream,

yet there's no noise.

Suddenly the door opens, and there's a crack of light in the room. White coats? Crap. Move!

"Are you sure about this?" I hear Ella's voice. What is going on.

I look around the room. My room. Hey weren't we sleeping in Fang's room. Then it hits me, this is

another dream.  
Ella comes into view, she's holding scissors to her chest, looking towards the doorway warily.

"I'm sorry Max, it's for your own good!" She whispers and prepares herself to bring the blades

down onto my still form. The blades come down with alarming speed, yet I see it all in slow

motion.

For my own good? Oh yeah, getting stabbed is better then an apple a day, now isn't it. Wake up!

Come on, screw moving, just wake up.

But something moves before the blades reach me. It's a blur even in slow motion. The scissors

are not only deflected, but firmly lodged in Ella's forearm.

Her face contorts in pain and she let's out a mute scream.

"It's too late. The process has already begun. We can only move on to Plan B." A man's voice,

one so familiar and still unrecognizable at the same time. "Be prepared for pick up tomorrow."

Ella wrenches the scissors out of her arm and throws them on the bed. Blood gushes from the

wound. "I'm sorry, Max" She says and steps back into the darkness.

Then I really wake up. It's daylight and Fang is sitting at his desk, looking for something. Oh

yeah, his journal. I'll have to find a way to put it back without suspicion.

"IGGY! Where is it?" Fang yells.

"I have no earthly clue what your talking about." Iggy lies through his teeth.

Another day in a screwed up paradise. Yee-haw.

"Fang, it's too early for this!" I say and throw a pillow over my head.

"It's 9 o'clock in the morning, Max. Welcome to the insanity." Iggy says from the door way.

I sit up in bed, "Iggy, just that man I was thinking about looking for. We need to talk." I say and

briskly get off the bed and march out of the room, my arm stretched out and forcing Iggy to come

along.

Iggy sighs as I lead him down the hall and enter his room without so much as a 'Let's go in here.'

"Well come on in." He says sarcastically as he follows me in.

"I need your opinion on something." I say. I'm about to open my mouth when he puts a finger up.

"I'm getting Nudge. I'm sure she should probably hear this too." He says and leaves the room.

You know, he's probably right. A few moments later Iggy returns with Nudge in tow. Nudge has a

pop-tart sticking out of her mouth, a sure give away that he had simply plucked her from the

dining room.  
He closes the door and turns to me. "Continue."

"I had a weird dream. No, two weird dreams. One that may explain what happened the night

before yesterday. The other is the really weird one that doesn't make any sense and I really need

to tell you guys." I say flustered.

Nudge, obviously un-amused glowers at me. Obviously she's a little miffed about her breakfast

suddenly being interrupted. "And I'm sure you're going to tell us the important one first, right?"

Okay, so considering what a ripe mood she's in, maybe I should tell her the Ella dream first.

"Well, I dreamt that Ella tried to attack me, in my sleep, with a pair of Fang's scissors." I say and

take a deep breath. I look at both of them. They look at me as if to say 'and?'.

"Ella wasn't alone. There was a guy with her. Not in her head, but somewhere in the shadows.

She said that it was for my own good. It looked like she didn't even want to do it. But the weird

part is," I stop for a second and analyze what I just said. When I say "Yeah, my sister and some

mysterious guy try to kill me with a pair of scissors but here's where it gets really weird…" this is

a sign that your life is officially FUBAR. "Something stopped her, physically. It was so fast that I

don't know what it is but it stabbed Ella with the scissors before she could stab me."

"Let me guess, in her arm. That's how she got hurt." Nudge says, seeming a little less grumpy.

"Exactly." I say and nod.

Iggy turned to Nudge and nodded. "It's a vision. Jeb probably sent it to you. He probably sent you

whatever the other dream was, too." Iggy says with a gesture of his hand.

"So tell us what happened." Nudge says.

"I burned oatmeal-"

"Big surprise." Iggy said.

Disgruntled I continue. "And Fang was there-"

"Tell me something I don't already know." Nudge insisted.

"Fine. We had kids. A girl who stares at you unblinkingly and a boy who likes to hang from

ceilings and throw silverware into the ceiling fan paddles. Happy?" I say, agitated with their lack

of enthusiasm.

Silence. Silence is good… If you like to hear crickets.

"WHAT!" Nudge exclaims. "Who had kids? Do you mean together? Because that would be cool! If

so, you're kids are really strange. What did they look like? Am I their auntie?"

I roll my eyes and Nudge puts a hand over her mouth. Remind me to submit him for the next

Nobel Peace Prize.

"As much as I hate to say it, it may be important that you answer Nudge's questions. Remember,

your visions aren't always scenes from the future, sometimes they just contain clues." Iggy said

softly.

"Okay, let's see… Yes, it appeared to be me and Fang. Yes, they are strange, and I even blamed

it on Fang in the dream. I only saw the girl, Sorcha, she had light brown hair and, I think, gray

eyes. The boy, Bran, was hanging from the living room ceiling. Fang stepped in there and it

sounded like he got hit with a salad fork or something. I don't know what they call you. You

weren't there, Nudge. But, Iggy you were there. You preformed a funeral service for the pot." I said

hurriedly.

Then the door opened…. Wider. Fang stood there, staring at me. His face blank almost as if he

couldn't believe what I was saying.

"It's was a pickle fork." He said

Suddenly, all eyes were on Fang. Had he been listening the entire time.

"And how would you know?" Iggy asked.

His eyes never left mine. "Because I had the same dream."

And suddenly it was hard to breath. "So what did Bran look like?" I asked. I wasn't going to just

freak out. I was going to play it cool and ask him questions.

"Black hair, black eyes, upside down. He has claws on his feet, like a bat. But… His face looks

like you." He said.

I was in the middle of the worlds creepiest staring match with Fang. Maybe that's where Sorcha

gets it, I think to myself. Bat feet? Now that's a new one.

Meanwhile Iggy and Nudge were busy giving themselves whiplash looking from me, to Fang, to

each other and back to me and Fang.

My life just gets more 'special' by the minute now doesn't it?

"And your take on it?" I asked, breaking the silence.

Fang blinked, a moment to think. "It's not a series of clues. There's nothing useful."

"Then you think it's a vision of the future?" I say, again finding it hard to breath.

His brown/black eyes stared at me. "That would be undetermined."

"That's not what I asked you." I said, as steadily as I could.

"If you want my opinion, I think it's a possibility of a future. It's not set in stone. I think it's a

warning, A threat of what might, or might not, happen if you don't do things just so." He said and

finally looked at Iggy and Nudge.

"I'm speechless." Nudge said.

"Well, wonders never cease." Iggy said sarcastically.

"Iggy, my notebook. Now!" Fang demanded.

"I told you -" Iggy started. Fang glared menacingly at him. Suddenly he sang like a canary, "Max

took it."

"IGGY!" Me and Nudge yelled.

Fang glared at us all and slipped out of the room, leaving the scent of chocolate dipped red-hots

in his wake.

"Sorry, Max. He already knew." Iggy said softly. "He just wanted confirmation."

"I guess I ought to return it." I say and leave the room. I step into the hall and Fangs already

waiting outside my door.

"I want it back, Max." He says.

I nod and enter my room silently. I crawl down underneath my bed and pull up the floor board. For

a moment I look at the cover of the notebook. Was it a journal, or some sort of stalker log. Why

did it mean so much to him. Why was he acting so calm. I slithered my way out from under the

bed. I stood up and dusted myself off. Then I handed him the note book.

Fang looked at me for a moment, appearing in his fury to be made of some sort of stone. Then

he grabbed my arm and pulled me close to him. "Why" He whispered into my face.

"To understand what it was you weren't telling me." I said softly.

"Do you understand everything now?" He asked.

"No. Now, I'm completely confused." I replied.

He looked down at me, his grip on my arm loosening. "It serves you right."

I looked down for a second, then stared him in the eyes. "Why? " I ask him.

"Why what?"

"Why did- do you write about me?" I asked.

"Don't flatter yourself. You aren't the only one I right about." He moved to snatch the notebook out

of my hands. I jerk it back and snarl at him.

"Oh, trust me, I'm not flattered. What are you, stalking me, some sort of creepy pervert? Why is it

that you write about me, and the things I do, more then you write about yourself in your journal?" I

demand.

He glares at me, and for a moment I begin to regret what I said. I even close my eyes expecting

him to strike me. But the blow doesn't come. I only feel his lips gently kiss the top of my head

and he eases the notebook out of my hands. "I don't know." He says.

Before I have the courage to open my eyes again, he has already slipped out of the room.

Now what? I grab my bag. It's time I start training.


	15. Of  Zippos and Sound Equipment

Wait for it. Wait for it. "DING!" And then it began. I leapt backwards, avoiding my opponent's first blow. His other fist struck out into the air just as I moved to the left, away from his wide range. Planting both of my feet solidly into the mats I preformed something made the trainers scream at me. I held still and put my block up, waiting for his next assault. Suddenly, he was right there, landing nothing that didn't hit my block. 

"MAX! Move yo' feet. What if-" I heard Larry, the trainer that Joe had hired for me. Before I even had a chance to hear what he was going to say next my sparring partner had stepped into my space and shoved at my blocking arm, sending me to my butt.

"You okay, Max?" Greg, my sparing partner, asked me. I had to give props to Joe. Not only did he find a great team to work with, but my sparring partners were professional and willing to let me learn from my own mistakes. That's the important part, just screaming at me to move my feet and to stay loose were not going to help me learn how to not wind up on by rear in time for the match.

"Max, let"s call it a night." I hear Joe say. I checked the clock on the wall. It was already 4 o'clock. I needed to be heading home, anyway.

"Alright guys, I am grateful for your help, let's do this again Friday." I said.

I jumped off the stand and strode over to Larry, who untied my gloves for me. "Better watch those feet of yours, girl. Lack of momentum means a lack of energy and a far easier target." I smiled at him and grabbed my gear.

"Bye, Max!" Joe yelled from his office, it looked like he was on the phone.

I shook my head and stepped into the hall that would lead outside. To my surprise a there, leaning up against the wall. Fang.

"What are you doing here?" I asked him.

"It's pouring outside." He said. There was nothing else said.

"So you decided to come stalk me since your plans to circle over head like some sort of vulture were called on account of rain?" I said waspishly. He didn't respond and followed me as I headed outside. He wasn't kidding. Pouring wasn't the word I'd use for this. In fact, there is a word to describe this designated by the National Weather Service, 'Monsoon'.

"'Jebus on a pogo-stick!" I yelled as I scurried back inside where Fang already stood holding out a windbreaker. "Thanks." I said. Oh wait. Wasn't I supposed to be angry at him? "But you didn't need to show up." I said as firmly as possible.

"Get over yourself. I came to give you a ride home. Nudge yacked my ear off about 'Poor Max, in the rain, without so much as an umbrella.' untill I told her that I'd pick you up.." He said and shoved the door open stepped outside. I followed him to his car. The jeep door swung open and he unzipped his jacket and turned on the heat.

My pride was saying 'No thanks, I'd rather just walk in the rain.', but my rapidly soaking body screamed 'Just, get in the car!' Fortunately my pride doesn't control my feet. I slipped into the seat and shut the door behind me. Fang was staring straight ahead without blinking.

We sat there for a few minutes, just waiting for something to happen. "Thanks." I said hoping that wss what he was waiting for. He took a deep breath and put the car into gear.

I sat back, relieved now that we were actually moving. "So..." I said, trying to break the silence.

"Shut up." He said, monotonously, not even diverting his eyes to my direction.

Infuriated, I turned to him. "'Excuse me?" His only response was silence. "Pull over."

To nobody's surprise, he didn't pull over.

"You know, this wouldn't be the first time I jumped out of a moving vehicle." I threatened. He appeared not to notice a single word I said until I reached for the door handle. Suddenly the car came to a screeching halt. Then I heard the thump of the power locks.

"Let's get one thing straight, you crossed the line, not me. Don't act like I'm being unreasonable. You are unbelievably hypocritical. I'm not the one who sneaks off to get my face rearranged. I'm not the one who won't even give an explanation. Now, shut up." He said in a deadly whisper, again not looking at me.

"How did you know I was still there?" I asked him.

"Exactly what part of 'shut up' do you not get?" He mumbled to himself.

Finding the situation impossible I sat there in silence till we got home. The door unlocked and I made a hasty retreat to my room.

Hours later the sun set, and I was still sitting on the floor staring at the wall, now in the dark. A knock came on my door. Nudge.

"Max?" a small voice. She probably thought I was sleeping. To confirm her theory I let out a loud snore like sound. The door opened. "Nice try, you don't snore." She said and sat down next to me. "So is there a reason why you're staring at the wall in the dark?"

"Mmhmm" I muttered, hoping she'd get the point and leave. Unfortunately there is a reason we call her Nudge.

"Max, if this doesn't get better and we don't get any answers soon, I'm going to have to go back. Jeb isn't going to allow me to stay. Granted summer just started but it's not that." Oh god, I think, he we go again. "You guys need to focus on the problem and sort out the clues. I'm not happy to say this, but you're being completely unreasonable."

Completely unreasonable. What was it with people calling me that lately? I'm not unreasonable, I'm just not willing to drag everybody into my demented sleigh ride into the unknown.

"Nudge, just leave me alone for a while. I can't deal with this right now. There's a reason I am sitting in a dark room staring at the wall." I say and turn my attention back to the wall.

"Between you, Fang and the weather, it's a real barrel of laughs here." She said sarcastically and started to slip out the door. "Whatever you did, apologize." With that she left me to my brooding.

I was beginning to feel my butt go numb when another knock came, this time the familiar two- tap rapping. I just hoped that if I didn't say anything he'd go away.

"Max, go to bed." He said through the door.

This was the rarity of living in the house with the person you wanted the throttle the most. What a gem, let me tell you. "Yes, mother!" I yelled sarcastically.

I could almost hear him roll his eyes and listened for his door to close. The music started and I knew that was about to get a whole lot uglier. I decided to get up before Iggy's eardrums burst.

"Fang! Fang! Turn it down before Iggy gets mad." I didn't get a reply. I decided to shake the door handle until he noticed. To my surprise the door was unlocked and I pushed it open. Fang was sitting at the window tearing sheets of paper out of the notorious notebook and lighting them on fire with Iggy's Zippo, then tossing them out the window.

"What are you doing?!" I yelled. He turned and looked at me for a solid minute before picking up the entire notebook and lighting it ablaze, chucking it out the window.

Not knowing what to do or say I stepped over to his stereo and ripped the wires out of the speakers.

"Do you have any respect for my belongings?" He asked menacingly, still on his bed.

"I don't know, do you have any respect for anyone?" I asked him and grabbed one of the speakers. ⌠Your problem is you totally disregard the fact that Iggy can't deal with your music. He could go deaf. But that doesn't bother you, does it? Of course not! You're pissed off, right? So everybody has to suffer." With that I chucked the sound equipment at him, it loudly crashed against the wall next to his head.

"Get out." He said. I obliged and stepped into the hall. I knocked on Iggy's door. He opened it with a grin. "I heard, come on in, sis."

"Iggy, how do you put up with him?" I asked him. His response wasn't what I was expecting.

"My question is this, why do I put up with the both of you." He said and sat back down at his desk where he was running his fingers over the pages of a book.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I say defiantly.

"You aren't perfect. None of us are. But you need to realize that if you want anything to happen you need to start talking to each other." He said. I was about to protest but he stopped me. "Screaming and arguing aren't talking. Give it a couple of days and spill the beans. ALL of them." He said.

I lay down on Iggy's spare bed and fell asleep. Could life bite me any harder? No, don't answer that. Pretend I didn't ask. Because I just don't want to know.


	16. Chapter 16

Even in the middle of a pitch dark night, I could see the outline of three people. I shut the window and ventured out into the hall. I flipped the switch and stared agape at the photograph in my hands.

A door opened and I quickly shoved the photo in my back pocket.

"Max?" I looked up to see Nudge, wrapped in a fluffy robe. "What is it?"

Iggy's words from earlier flashed through my mind. 'Spill the beans. All of them.' I looked at Nudge and took a breath. "You aren't going to believe this." I said and pulled the photograph out of my back pocket. I glanced at it, making sure that I hadn't dreamt it, or hallucinated for that matter. I gently held it out for her and she took it looking at me for a sign that she should be concerned.

Cautiously she looked at the picture. It's actually kind of amusing how many expressions passed through her face, kind of like the seven stages of denial. Confusion, Shock, Denial, and finally, bargaining. "This is a prank right? It's a shopped pic, right? This can't be legit."

I only looked at her with a steady expression. "I found it wedged underneath Iggy's window." I said and took the picture back. "Hey, do you smell that?" I asked. Some faint scent, almost undetectable, waifed to my senses.

"Huh?" She asked confused, and quite obviously trying to digest this information.

It was a sweet, tangy smell. "Oranges. I smell oranges." I stated.

"I don't smell anything." She said.

I stuck the photo under her nose. It had to be coming from the photo. She sniffed it. "I smell ink and weirdness." She replied raising a brow.

I shook my head. "Nudge, get everybody up. We need to talk and make a plan. I have reason to believe that our location may be compromised."

She looked at me, suspicious and questioningly. "What haven't you told us?" She asked.

"That will be dealt with soon enough. Get them up." I said shoved the picture back in my pocket.

I hustled down the stairs and pulled a round of Coke's out of the fridge in preparation for our late-night flock conference.

The first to arrive was Fang. He was still groggy, but his eyes were alert and full of alarm. "What's going on, Max?" Those were the words he said, but I knew what he meant. "What did you do, and why are you just now telling me?"

"I'll explain once everybody is here." I said and gestured for him to take a seat, which he did unceremoniously. I plopped a Coke in front of him and he gave be a really hardcore case of the stink eye. "Long night ahead of us?" He asked.

"You have no idea." I replied.

Iggy marched into the room, his hand discretely searching for a piece of furniture. "Max, it's about time. Don't get me wrong. I am thrilled that you're following my advice, but you could have done this six hours from now." He muttered sarcastically.

"I had no choice. I found something that has brought this thing to a head." I said and slapped the photo down on the table.

Fang reached across the table and grabbed the photo. I watched his expression as he inspected the photo. "Okay, this does change things a bit." He said.

"Um, not to be the pale faced destroyer of all things dramatic, but what the heck is it?" Iggy said.

Fang didn't reply, he only stared solemnly at the picture in his hands.

"HELLO! Blind guy, can't see here. Anybody wanna clue me in." He exclaimed.

"It's a photo... Of the kids from my dream." I said softly.

I heard Iggy take a hissing breath. Obviously not what what he was expecting.

"There's three of them here." Fang said in a whisper.

"Yeah, so?" I ask. I mean, come on, we've got this creepy photo that I just happened to find wedged under a window that contained the faces of two people I'd only seen in dreams, and all he can do is practice his counting skills.

"There's three kids here, but in the dream there were only two of them." He said. Oh, that actually made sense.

"And what do you think that means?" I asked.

"That's it's the third one we should worry about." He said.

This is the part where I give him a funny look and he's supposed to explain everything to crystal clarity in less then thirty seconds, by the way.

He rolls his eyes. "The third kid is older than the others. Which means, that ... Is that a boy or a girl?" He asks. I looked at the photo. He was right, it was hard to tell. The figure stood behind the others, so there was no tell their gender from body-type. I looked at the face. Short cropped black hair with distant eyes. They were the only figure not smiling in the photo. In fact they looked like what I probably looked like when I was duking it out with the voice in my head. I ran my fingers over the face gently. 'Calypso.' I thought and jerked my fingers away.

I had hoped that nobody had seen my miniature freak out. I wasn't so fortunate.

"What was that about?" Iggy asked. How he knew, I will never figure out. "Her name is Calypso. And , no, I don't know how I know that. But Fang's right. She's the one we should be worrying about."

"More important than that, where did this come from." Fang asked, pointing towards the photo.

I looked up. "There's a lot I need to tell you." I said and took a deep breath. "This is going to be a long story to tell." I said wearily.

"We've got caffeine and a rather large collective attention span." Iggy said and folded his arms over his chest.

"First, I need to show you something else." I said and slipped up stairs and came back down, with the tape in hand. "This is why, I've been so weird lately." I said and slipped the tape into the VCR.

The tape played, all the while Fang was describing what he saw to Iggy. Collectively the were shocked. "Who is this?" Nudge asked. "All I know is that he calls himself 'Shadow.;" I said and sat back down. Suddenly two sets of dark brown orbs were glued to my general direction. "So what are we going to do?" She continued.

"The only thing I can think of, is to train and fight. It's the only way to get the information that I need. In the meantime, I need you, Nudge, to do some serious security upgrades. This place has to me in Max alert from here on out. Whatever's going on, they know where we live. " I said seriously.

"Why don't we just run? It's worked in the past." Iggy questioned.

I shook my head. "If we run, this will follow and we're not going to find anything out that way. At least here we have the home team advantage."

They all nodded. I was once again Max, leader of all things mutated. Great, just great...

The next six hours were spent doing what we do best, preparing for an attack. Nudge had wandered around the house taking measurements and writing them down on a pad of paper going over them in different colored hi-lighters to designate risk levels. She jotted down ideas on a blueprint sheet and continued to add item after item onto a growing list of equipment and tools. Iggy set to work constructing non lethal booby traps. Most of his contraptions revolved around it making a lot of noise.

Fang went about building mounts to Nudges specs. He never said a single word, only worked at one thing until he was done and was then assigned to another task. We must have sent him all over town in a search for the equipment that Nudge had requested.

Nudge, I have decided, is the McGuiver of home security. The things that girl can do with the laser components of a DVD player and the heating coils of a toaster will positively blow your mind.

By then end of our ordeal, there were heat sensors, motion detectors, thumb and retina scanners located at every possible entrance and exit. Poor Iggy had to scan his retina's in order to open his window. As much chaos as this would be, we would eventually get used to it. One thing was for certain, we weren't getting caught with our pants down.


	17. Chapter 17

Or so I thought...

At first everything seemed to be going to plan perfectly. All of our systems were fully functional. Camera's and sensors sent constant feeds to our central hub that relayed reports to Nudge's spare laptop.

We had finished running strict diagnostic testing to make sure that our systems were as accurate as they were functional. As always, Nudge had out done herself.

The hours had passed in a breeze and we were now seated together around the table. For the first time in months we were all together and at least acting like we were a functional family. We were laughing and retelling stories. I can't recall the last time there was that lofty sense of unity.

Then I began to smell that something was amiss. Yes, that's right, I said 'smell'. The same strange scent of faded oranges that I had smelt coming off of the photo was drifting through the house. My instant physical reaction was to tense up and look around in a state of disbelief.

In that instant the laughter died. "What is it, Max?" Iggy asked.

"It's nothing... I just thought I smelt something." I said and excused myself from the table.

As quickly and as quietly as I possibly could I ran up the stars, all the while smelling the scent get stronger and stronger. The scent went through every room like a woman's perfume would linger in a room she'd been in. It was leading me to Fang's room. Somebody was searching for something, and right now they were behind his door.

Stealthily I placed my thumb on the scanner and hear the door disengage. I eased the door open slightly.

Light filtered through the room, laying a thin ribbon of light to fall upon the intruder.

He had his back to me, his ebony feather gleaming in the faint light. I could see the long ponytail that fell between his shoulder blades. In that moment I felt a distorted sense of de ja vu. He suddenly shuffled out of the light.

"Don't come any closer..." And then he paused as if my name was weighty on his tongue. "Max."

I stepped closer to the door. "My, aren't we asking strange requests. Especially since I just caught you breaking into our house. " I said sarcastically.

He sighed. "Max, you have know idea how much I would love to sit and just listen to you argue until you're blue in face. But I'm sorry to say that I must be leaving." He said and stepped towards the window.

I stepped into the room. Suddenly there was a blinding flash of light directed into my eyes. They couldn't focus with the strange mixture of darkness and brilliant light.

The figure shuffled to the window, and placed his thumb to the scanner. To my surprise I heard the confirming beep. With one hand still aiming the light on my face, he shoved the window open with the other.

"Who's Calypso, Shadow?" I demanded.

He stopped and turned to face me, his hand falling to his side. I stood waiting for his reply.

"Calypso? How do you know about her?" He asked.

I smirked. "I have my sources."

He laughed ruefully. "She was my daughter."

I took a brave step forward. "Why is she in the picture with the other two?" I asked.

"You found it?! She's in it?" He exclaimed and turned on me.

"Whoa, buddy! Don't move a muscle." I said into the darkness. "Yeah, I found it. What I'd like to know is how it got here in the first place?"

The scent of oranges faded. "Calypso, sweetheart, you did it!" He exclaimed out loud.

I was beginning to wig out so I stomped on the floor and took a flying leap at the man. He struggled, but did not fight back. My struggle lasted just long enough for Fang to burst through the door. Fang grabbed Shadow by the front of the shirt. Shadow dropped the flashlight that rolled across the floor of the dark room.

I stood behind the two of them and was unable to see the intruder's expression, but Fang's was very clear. I watch it morph from sheer fury to confusion and then finally fear. "MAX, RUN!!"

I took a stuttering skittish step towards the both of them. I heard a muted 'KA-CLUNK' and Fang slowly fell to the floor.

I must have screamed because the figure turned in my direction. Tears of fury were building in my eyes and I could barely see anything. The figure leaped out the window and took off. I ran and knelt down next to Fang and checked for a pulse. As soon as I felt the regular beats beneath my fingertips I jumped up and charged out the window in pursuit of Shadow.

The wind grew fierce and I knew that I'd loose him. I looked back. I must have gone over 10 miles already. This was stupid, considering I was far from home and alone. What if there was an ambush. I would by playing right into their hands. Frustrated and furious I decided it was time to turn back home.

When I arrived the light was on in the room and Fang was being looked over by Iggy. "He's okay, it's a sedative."

I sighed in relief. I looked over to see nudge leaning against the door frame. "Nudge, hun, what is it?"

"Max..." She said and sighed. "Whoever did this... Has to be a clone. It's the only way that they could have gotten in here unnoticed. I mean, he got into a room that required a 7 point fingerprint match. There's no way that lock should have disengaged for him."

"Nudge, are you sure you aren't making a mistake? Could he have lifted one of our prints or something? Could he have gotten through that way?" I asked trying to calm her down.

Nudge shook her head miserably. "Max... You don't understand."

I stepped close to her. "What is it that I don't understand?" I asked.

"Max... I saw him. If he wasn't right there on the floor, I would have sworn it was Fang himself." Nudge told me this and I stared at a spot on the wall trying to piece this all together.

Moments later, I heard a moan. I turned to where Iggy was helping Fang sit up. "Fang, are you okay."

"Max... Max?" He asked as I came closer to him.

"Yes, Fang.?" I asked. "Did you recognize him?" I asked. Fang looked at me with a puzzled expression.

"Max... Why am I on the floor?" He asked me.

Oh, this was not good. Not good at all...


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

It had been hours since the break in. I, as always was a pile of ill-beaten nerves.

"How? How did he know about the security?" I asked them, still on edge.

"For the, what, four-hundredth time...WE DON'T KNOW!" Iggy exclaimed.

I took a breath. "Okay, okay. I know. I just can't wrap my head around the fact that he just knew our system. The one Nudge accidentally set off twice today,- and she designed the dang thing.

"Max, calm down. Breath." Nudge said coming up behind me and forcing me to take a seat.

"Well, I guess we just need to keep a better eye out or something." Iggy said with a sigh.

"How you holding up, Fang? Remember anything? Anything at all?" I asked hopefully.

"Nope." And we're back to one word sentences. I rolled my eyes.

"I guess we'll have to break this down, piece by piece." I said and stepped into Mom's office. I grabbed a handful of dry erase markers and stormed into the room. I grabbed a fat red one and let the other scramble over them.

"Do I really need one of these?" Iggy asked.

"No, I'll write down whatever you say." I said and started writing category lists on the large bay window. "Shadow" "Ella" "Break-In"

"Okay, we'll start with Shadow." I said and turned to the rest of the guys. "What do we know?"

"Wings." Fang replied. On the board it went.

"Fights, looks like Fang... Possible clone." Nudge said. That went on the board

"You forgot to add Calypso." Iggy said.

I looked over at him. "And how would you know?" But I wrote it on the glass anyway.

I drew a line between Calypso and Shadow with the word 'Daughter?' above it.

"She can't be his daughter if he's a clone." Iggy replied. I wrote it down. "Clone has an 'e' at the end, Max."

"Again, how did you know?" I asked anding a firm 'e' to the end of clone.

Iggy sniggered. "I can hear you spell things out-loud as you write them."

I gave him a dirty look.

"Okay, so the things I only know... He smells like oranges, knows who we are." I wrote all of this down, making sure not to spell them out.

"What do you mean, about him smelling like oranges?" Iggy asked.

"Exactly that, you guys couldn't smell it, but he positively reeked of oranges." I replied.

"No he didn't." Nudge added.

"Like I said, you couldn't smell it." I said.

"Max... Do you mean like... The cinnamon?" Iggy asked sitting up straight in his chair.

I paused. "Yeah... Exactly like the cinnamon." I said.

Now everybody was confused. Iggy was the only flock member I'd clued in on this. Everybody, that is but Iggy. "I have a theory." He said

"It could be bunnies, because bunnies have those twitchy little noses." Nudge added sarcastically.

I rolled my eyes. "What is it?"

"It's crazy." He said and moved his hand as if to dismiss it.

"Iggy, come on, man. We have wings, deal with werewolves and robots, and clones are a serious concern for us on a daily bases. Whatever you're thinking can't be that weird." I said.

"Okay, but don't laugh." He said and waited for our undivided attention. "I think... It's Fang." He said quietly.

Nudge rolled her eyes. "So you're saying Fang beat himself up and flew out the window while being on the floor in a heap?" She asked sarcastically.

"Yes, exactly. No, Nudge. I'm saying it's Fang... From the future." He said softly, almost a whisper.

"Why?" Fang asked.

"Glad you asked, because: a) he looked like you b) he knew the security c)he has a daughter older then us and d) Max smelt oranges." He said counting off his fingers.

Okay, even I was a little lost.

"That can't be it. Identical matter can't exist in identical space or identical time." Nudge added. "Even the white coats know that. Clone's aren't identical."

Iggy shook his head. "But what if he's from more than seven years in the future?" He asked.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Nudge asked, confused.

"He's right." I said. "The human body shed every cell in the span of seven years. The molecular make up would be different, not the same matter." Hey, you don't live around crazy scientists without picking a few things up along the way.

"Okay, so hypothetically, if Shadow is Fang from the future, what do we do about it?" Nudge asked.

"We change the passwords and remove Fang's prints from the files. That way even the current Fang can't get in without somebody else knowing where he is." I said with a nod. "Nobody is to tell Fang the codes, either. Otherwise he'll remember them." I said with a sigh. "I'm sorry, Fang... It's the only way."

Fang rolled his eyes. "Gee... Thanks."

"I have a better idea. How about we lock Fang in a trunk and feed him through a tube like a hamster for all of the aggravation and sleep his future self costs us." Iggy said sarcastically.

Nudge looked over at Fang, as if she was contemplating it. "Fang, smack Iggy." I said.

WHACK!

"...OOOOWWW! Jeez, Fang, Can't you take a joke?" Iggy asked.

"Just following orders." He said with a smirk.

"Okay, so the future thing is a theory, what if it's a clone?" Nudge asked.

I sighed. "Same precautions. The clone wouldn't be able to get in either."

Suddenly Fang looked concerned. "What do you guys mean by, 'smelling like the cinnamon?' " He asked.

I sighed and looked towards Iggy, who automatically stuck his hand's in front of him. "Oh no, my nose is still paying for the last time I ventured into your olfactory Fang-o-meter!"

"Huh?" Fang said slowly.

"Okay... Well, Fang, you don't notice it, and apparently neither does anybody else, but you produce different scents, depending on your mood. It's probably something in your body chemistry... But I can always tell, based on what the scent is, what you're feeling," I confessed in a rush.

Nudge shook her head. "Is that what the whole 'sniff the photo' thing was about?"

I nodded and she threw her hands in the air. "Well this just keeps getting weirder and weirder. Does the photo still smell like oranges?" She asked. I shook my head. "Then it had to be 'shadow' who put the picture there.."

I stopped and tried to think it over. If Shadow had put it there, why did he seem so shocked that we'd found it.

"Or... It could be somebody with a similar body chemistry." Fang suggested.

"A clone?" Nudge asked.

"No... Fang's the only one I've been able to smell." I said firmly. "Even when we were in the encampment I could tell the clones from the real Fang."

Nudge nodded in understanding.

"Well I guess we just have to figure what it is you did to piss Fang off in the future." She said softly.

"Hey, what makes you think that I did something. Maybe he just went nuts or something." I added.

"Hey, I am here you know." He said, shocked.

"Sorry, Fang" Me and Nudge said simultaneously.

"Well, I think I'll leave you to this variable cornucopia of condensed craziness. ... But first... What's the cinnamon, mean." He asked.

"I'm smelling it now. You figure it out." I said sarcastically. And it was true, the smell was flooding the room.

Fang rolled his eyes unhappily and scooted his chair back and made his way to his room.

"Okay, guys. It's been a long night and I think we could all use a good night's sleep. We'll wake up tomorrow and work on our plan some more." I said anxiously wanting to go speak to Fang. He was really upset.

We went to our rooms and I knocked on Fangs door. "Come in." He said gruffly. I placed my thumb on the scanner and listened for the beep. I opened the door to find Fang gazing out the window.

"Fang... I didn't mean it like that.." I said.

"I know. But it could be true." He said and he looked over to me.

I smiled. "Fang, you wouldn't do anything to hurt me. And honestly, I don't think that's what Shadow is trying to do either." I said and sat down on the edge of his bed.

Fang gave me a disbelieving look. "He broke in, has challenged you to a fight. Had Ella destroy your car, and nearly had her attack you." He said.

"I know... But I think there's a good reason behind it...a purpose. He was in the same room with me, before you got there. If he wanted to kill me, or hurt me, he would have. Here I am, without so much as a scratch." I said earnestly.

Fang stopped and knit his brows. "Seriously?" He asked.

"Fang... He never even fought back. Never laid a hand on me." I said placing a hand of your shoulder.

"But what about the attack on you. What stopped it? He orchestrated it, after all." Fang asked, more to himself then to me.

"I don't know... But... He was surprised when the blades turned. He said 'the process has already begun.' Something like that. I wonder if he meant..." I stopped.

"What process?" Fang asked cautiously.

"Fang... Something deflected those blades. And it wasn't me, Ella or him... so it had to be... You." I whispered.

Fang looked at me with question in his eyes? "How?" He asked

"I think... I think you have a new power." I said cautiously. "Don't get your hopes up... It's only a guess, but-"

And again I was cut off, but not with words. A single smell took my words away. It must have shown on my face.

"Max... What is it?" Fang asked.

"Oranges." I said softly.

Fang stiffened. "You mean he's here?" He asked taking my shoulders. I shook my head

"No, Fang... It's coming from you." I said softly.

**A/N:** Okay, so it's been a really long time since I posted. Hey, I've been trying to figure out how to tie all the pieces together without giving myself a migraine, or you getting confused. (sigh) R/R guys, tell me what you think!


	19. AN: Let's try this again

Hey guys, I just want to tell you that I've reformatted, re-edited, and re-posted this story. From here on out, this on is my rough draft edition (miss-spelled, horrible crammer, tense changes, weak vocabulary, random stuff that doesn't really belong in the plot, etc. etc.)

I've reposted it at

www(dot)fanfiction(dot)net/s/3838889/1/LifeContinuestoConfuseMeVersion20

it out. It's loads better. And since I don't have a gazillion hours to dedicate to letting all of you readers know about it, I've decided just to let you know by adding an AN in the middle of this.

You guys have been awesome. The story is NOT dead, just revamped and moved elsewhere so this one won't contaminate the far superior version, LOL!

Will be updating soon.

Oh yeah, I've combined several chapters to make the story flow better, it's all there I promise.

Krrimarte


	20. Chapter 19

_Life Continues to Confuse Me_

_Part 7_

The tension in his features increased. "What do you mean?" He asked me.

"What are you feeling?" I asked him sharply.

He looked at me as if I was crazy. "I'm... Nervous."

Nervous? It would make sense, considering that Shadow was searching a house with it's occupants still present. "There is no doubt anymore. Shadow is you." I said and successfully managed to confuse even myself.

"All the more reason that I should leave. I can't- I can't be the reason..." He trailed off. I stopped him.

"Who's to say that he isn't here to stop you from leaving? This time travel thing is really complicated." I muttered under my breath. "No, leaving won't help anybody, and most certainly not you. I need you here, you have always been my greatest ally."

For a moment, he appeared to be... Well, I'm not entirely sure what to call it. It's not very often that a peculiar emotion blankets the features of my Second-in-Command. The strange expression was as noticeable, and as short-lived, as a mid-western rain storm. It was there, and then it was gone like it had never really occurred.

"Fang? What is it?" I asked, somewhat concerned.

"I am your ally?" He asked softly, not looking at me. "I am your right hand man? Your second in command? Is that all that I'll ever be?" And he stopped short, took a breath and stood up from the bed. "Is that the reason I shouldn't leave? Because I'm your ally?" He asked and started to walk away.

"Fang!" I exclaimed. What can I say, that boy can seriously twist your words. "You're my best friend. I need you." I said staring at his back.

"No, I'm not your friend. Right now, I'm a risk. One that you can't afford to take." He said and shook his head. Before I could say another word, he turned to me. "I think you better leave my room, Max."

He was so cold, so inhuman at that moment that I couldn't even associate the words with his presence.

"What?" I asked, sounding like an idiot.

"Go, Max. Just go." He said, this time I smelt that strange scent of smoldering wood.

"No." I said firmly, and I prepared for him to challenge me. To my surprise, he didn't. Instead, he stormed to his closet and pulled out the ancient, beat up book-bag that he'd used in our travels. I watched and he went through his drawers and pulled out various articles and stuffed them into the bag. The last thing he grabbed was his laptop. "Fang, what are you doing?" I asked him.

"What's best for everyone. I have to leave. There's no telling how much I'm endangering you guys. You said it yourself, I can't even be trusted with passwords because I'm the threat." He said as he zipped the bag up.

"Fang, no!" I said trying to make him stop. "That isn't what we meant."

He looked at me pointedly. "Max... It's for your own good."

"Screw what's good for me. I need you. I don't care if you hand me over to Shadow and whatever deluded conspirators he may have, I'll still need you." I insisted.

He shook his head and slipped on his shoes. "Max, I'm leaving." It wasn't a threat, it wasn't a plan; it was a fact.

"Not without me, you aren't." I said and grabbed his shoulders, forcing him to sit on the bed again. "Listen up and listen good. What part of I need you here don't you get? If you leave, I'll just pack a bag and hunt you down. Then you'll really be up crap-creek." I say in my "Master and Commander" voice.

He rolled his eyes. "No, you'll stay here and keep everybody safe. I know you. You won't risk the flock for me." He said with hint of sadness. "That's what I can count on. You won't follow me, you won't be endangered by me, or Shadow."

"Your logic is perfect, and yet so flawed." I replied darkly. "You are just as much in danger as I am. Haven't you noticed that? Look what happened the other night? Fang, you were attacked. Why? I don't know. You are obviously as equally at risk as I am right now." I say and look him in the eyes. "What makes you think that I wouldn't come look for you? What makes you believe that I would so easily be deterred by the fact of my better good? And furthermore, who are you to say that you, presently, aren't the only reason I'm here at all." I stopped short of saying something really embarrassing.

Once again that boy managed to turn my words into my own bindings. "You're right, if I hadn't opened my big mouth, you'd be off looking at property. I should have left a long time ago." I stared at him moth agape. How did he do that? How could he wrap my own words around my limbs to ensnare me?

He pulled on a jacket and went to the window.

"Fang?" I pleaded.

Fang stopped for a second and suddenly turned to me. He stormed over to where I'm standing and looked me in the eyes. "I can't stay, Max." He said softly. "I can't do it." Then he reached into his right hand pocket, pulled something out and offered his closed hand to me. I reached for it, only to have his left hand grab the back of my neck and draw me closer to him. His lips crushed and bruised mine in a desperate and furious kiss. Suddenly he stopped, forced the object into the palm of my hand. "Use it." He whispered in my ear and took off out the window.

When my mind started to function again, I opened my hand to find the familiar key-chain. "Fang, you jerk!" I yelled out the window, but it was of no use. His figure was retreating into the horizon. Only the dark, silent night heard my shout. Only the shadows heard my muffled sobs.

Once again, the flock was broken, but this time I wasn't just going to pretend everything would be okay. I curled up in a ball on his bed and sobbed into the pillow that smelt of his hair.

"Um... Max?" I heard come from the door. "It's Iggy..." He sounded really awkward. "Can I come in?"

I fiercely dashed the tears away. "Yeah, come in." I said, trying to sound as if I was really okay.

He opened the door and closed it behind him. Cocking his head to the side he listens to the room. "He left?" He asked me. I only shake my head, my voice unsteady. He comes over and throws an arm around my shoulder. "I'm sorry." He said with a heavy sigh.

"What am I going to do?" I said with an unsteady voice.

Iggy drew me into a close brotherly hug. "First, you're going to cry on my shoulder for a few. Then you're going after him." He said with a knowing grin.

"How do you know?" I asked him.

Iggy smirked and tapped the side of his head. "Empath. I felt everything that went on over here." He said kindly. "It's just a matter of time."

"A matter of time till what?" I asked him.

"Till you two figure it out for yourselves." Iggy said and smirked.

"What?" I ask him.

"All he cares about is you, Max." Iggy reminds me. Seeing as how I am not going to cry on his shoulder, he stands up to leave. "It's true you know."

I roll my eyes. "He's not that self-absorbed!" I insist.

"Maybe so, but he still cares about you." Iggy said and sauntered out of the room. "Where is he?" I asked myself. Only one thought came to mind. I ran into my room and dumped out my latest book-bag. I left a pile of binders, notebooks and pencils sitting in the middle of my bed as I threw a few supplies into the bag. After double checking everything, I took off out the window.

Once I got out of the city limits I threw it into Sonic Speed. I was at the cave within an hour and a half. Now all I had to do was wait in the darkness for him to arrive. That's one double-edged benefits of sonic speed. You may get there way fast, but it's a guaranteed wait once you're there.

Twenty minutes of silence later a dark lanky figure landed at the edge of the cave. Even with my night-vision, I could barely make the figure out. I sat silently, waiting to make my ever so dramatic entrance. The figure pulled the left over store of wood into a pile and proceeded to light the fire. The glowing fire cast a soft light in the cave and I was able to see the dark skinned figure. I was about to open my mouth to speak when the figure turned their head.

It wasn't Fang. It wasn't Shadow, either.

"Calypso." I hissed in shock.

She smiled and turned to me. "That would be correct, Max."

I stood up, preparing for an attack.

"Chill. I'm not here to hurt you." She said in a dismissive tone that reminded me of my clone. "I'm here to set the facts straight."

"What did you do to Fang?" I demanded.

"Nothing. Well... He's been delayed, but no harm will come of it, if that's what you meant." She said as an afterthought. "We need to have a talk."

"I have nothing to say to somebody who is trying to kill me." I hissed, this time in anger.

Calypso shook her head. "I don't think you understand the gravity of the situation. If we don't talk, right now, you're going to die."

I squinted my eyes in suspicion. "Who are you?... What are you?" I ask.

She looked surprised and grinned. "Ah, now you ask a very good question. What am I? I'm the genetic concept of your future daughter. I was created to save your life, Max." She said pointedly.

"By coming back and trying to kill me?" I ask.

For a moment she seemed offended. "No. By coming back and keeping you from getting yourself killed. I could see where you've developed your hostility, but I assure you, everything that has happened has all been according to a very detailed plan. One that you are personally responsible to sending to hell in a hand-basket, might I add."

I rolled my eyes. "Sure, you're trying to help me. Do you think I'm really that stupid?" I asked sarcastically. "If I died, how could you be a clone of my future daughter, huh?" I demanded triumphantly.

"I never said I was a clone." Calypso said with a sigh.

"Then what are you, again?" I asked mordantly.

"I am a statistically probable genetic match of a child that you and Fang could have if you were to live." Calypso rattled off. "Basically I'm a genetic model."

"Test tube baby?!" I query.

She gave me a scathing look. "You know, I could say the same thing about you, Max."

I shook my head. None of this was making any sense. "Okay, you're a genetic model, or whatever, but that still doesn't explain why you exist. Why would anyone create you if I was dead? And... how?"

Calypso shrugged in a way that reminded me strangely of Fang. "I was created by Jeb. Who knows his reasoning on anything he does? All I know is that he dropped me on Shadow's lap when I was a couple of months old. Shadow raised me." She said distantly.

"So you weren't created to come back?" I asked.

"I don't know. I only recently found out I could go back." Calypso said softly. "I've never seen Shadow so hopeful. The day I told him about going back a couple of hours to write that paper for class, was the first time I saw him... Well... Alive." She said looking at me from the fire. "Do you mind coming over here? I hate having to rotate my head like this."

I nod mutely and shuffle along the cave wall. It would get me closer to the exit should anything go wonky. I wasn't about to argue with that.

"Anyway, the plan was this: We were going to come back and destroy your car, making it impossible for you to show up at the gym. Then Fang went and loaned you his car, something even Shadow wasn't expecting." She said with a sigh. "That meant we had to go even further back and make sure that one of us was going to be Jameson's 'Champion.' What we weren't expecting was Fang to get all hell-bent on hunting down the guy who trashed your car. He showed up at the gym the same time that Shadow was dropping off the tape. I couldn't just let him walk in and ruin everything, **again**, so I jumped out of the bushes and threw a few punches. Fang just doesn't know when to give up... And... Well... I had to hit him with his own car to get him to change his course." She said in a combination of annoyance and embarrassment.

Like an idiot, I just stared at her. If she was telling a load of B.S. , it was creepily fitting B.S. "Then what?" I asked.

"Well, we decided that this called for extreme measures. Because I was all kinds of bent out of shape, we needed a delay... So... Ella." She said awkwardly. "The plan was only to delay you, not permanently injure you. We certainly weren't plotting your death."

"I figured that. Then Fang's ability kicked in, right?" I asked.

Calypso sighed in relief. "Yeah. We don't know how, or why, but Fang's already diverted from the normal time-line. He's developed a power that Shadow _still_ didn't have when I was created. He can redirect kinetic energy, if you were wondering."

I felt my face twitch and then asked softly. "If that wasn't his power... What powers _did_ Shadow have?" I asked curiously.

She shook her head. "Can't tell you that. I'm already tossing monkey-wrenches into the fabric of time and space as it is. To tell you anymore would be completely reckless and irresponsible."

I rolled my eyes. "It's becoming obvious that Fang raised you." I muttered.

Calypso let out a small chuckle. "That's not a bad thing." She said with a smile.

Now curiosity was getting the better of me. "Did you like being raised by him? Did you have a mom?"

Calypso stopped and jabbed at the fire with a stick. "Shadow was a great parent. We weren't exactly the best example of a father/daughter relationship, but we held a mutual fondness for each-other. Completely understandable. I'm sure it would have been a lot better if I'd actually been born to you guys. And no, I never had a mom. Until I was six, he told me that you were my mom... That you'd died when I was a baby." She said with a soft sadness. "He didn't want me to feel like some sort of freak. That's the kind of guy who raised me." She smiled softly. "Every year on your birthday we brought flowers to your grave."

A knot formed in my stomach. "But... Why did I die in the first place."

She looked at me and grinned. "That, I can answer. Nice choice of words. I couldn't answer "How did I die?" But, you were killed by a man, Jameson, who is trying to hunt down any surviving subjects of ITEX and make them join, or kill them. You weren't about to join them, so they killed you. Nobody knew what was happening, so you were alone... They found your body a week later." She said wearily.

"Wow, it's kind of weird ... You know... Talking about my body and death and what not." I say in a whisper.

"You think this is weird? Imagine what it's like for me! I get to have a discussion with my mom who was never my mom. You try figuring out how to feel about that!" She exclaimed.

"I built that bridge! Been there, so done that." I say with a laugh.

She nods. "But there's more to this then what I mentioned. " She said guiltily. "We were supposed to get Angel to send you false visions of the future, just like how Jeb did it. That was going alright... until we realized that the visions you were having weren't the visions she was sending."

"So you mean... ?"

"We don't know." She said. "Basically, we were hoping to strengthen your pre-existent bond, so you wouldn't be alone when this all comes down. Fang has some serious guilt issues. At the moment, we don't know what's going to happen now? We're stuck here." Calypso said with a grunt.

"I see." I whispered. "Is that all?" I ask.

"All that I can tell you. Fang and Shadow should be here any minute now." She said looking at her watch.

"Shadow?" I squeak.

"Chill. Jeez. Think about it this way, if I'm still here, Fang is still alive. If Fang was killed, I would have been raised by someone else, and wouldn't be here now." Calypso stated. Then in a typical me-like move she said, "I think..."

I stared off into the fire and Calypso went to sit on the ledge. Time passed as I stared into the flickering flames trying to mentally digest everything I'd just learned. Suddenly I felt the weird prickly sensation on the back of my neck. I gasped and turned around. Three pairs of identically brown eyes stared at me curiously. Woah... Creepy.

"OKAY ENOUGH OF THE STARING! You guys are creeping me out." I exclaim.

Shadow is then consumed in a hushed conversation with Calypso, leaving Fang to look at me in the strangest way. "Max?" He asks. I suddenly can't stop the tears from forming and I run into his arms. He tosses his bag down and wraps his arms around me.

"Dude! The laptop. Come on man!" I hear Shadow exclaim, but he's ignored. Right now, we're doing what Iggy has always accused us of; drowning everyone else out.

"Don't leave." I whispered.

"I won't." He said and hugged me tight.

"That's what you said last time." I say in a sort of uncontrollable sob.

"I mean it." He replied and brought his hand up to my chin. "I mean it."

I smiled and kissed his cheek. "I'm glad you're back." I said and leaned my head on his shoulder. We stood there, unwilling to let go for a few minutes. Slowly I started opening my eyes, never taking my head off of the warm shoulder. I could see Shadow looking at us sadly, longingly. Calypso put a hand on his shoulder and gave him a soft smile. Shadow lowers his gaze and nodded softly, returning to their conversation.

It's then that I realized just how much he'd missed me. How much he's gone through for me. I felt a knot in my throat and hold Fang even tighter. In a way, I was hugging Shadow too, trying to sooth his pains as well.

Mentally, I was praying that everything is going to be okay. It has to be, for all our sakes...


End file.
